The New Girl
by Hanzuki
Summary: Hanzuki is a girl who grew up in a small town. Now when she is suddenly kicked out of her home by her parents, she is forced to move into the big city of Ikebukuro. Hanzuki is not sure what to do until she meets some interesting people...As long as she has her determination, Hanzuki is sure she can handle Ikebukuro. But what happens after a gang fight, a kidnapping, and a HEAD?(!)
1. The Life of a Flower

It so frustrating being a flower. Think of it like this, you have grown roots and are happily sprouting along, when suddenly you are being uprooted. Not a very happy thought for a flower is it? But then, I guess you'd never understand if you weren't a flower yourself. Then again, neither am I, but I feel the same way anyways. If that makes any sense at all...which it conveniently doesn't. But think about it for a second. You're just this happy little blooming daisy, when suddenly you are being torn apart from the soil. Goodbye Terra, hello crinkly leaves and sudden flowery death. Now imagine you're me, although that is almost impossible since I am myself, and you are you... but do it anyway. You have been just enjoying life, hanging out with friends, being an average girl...or um, guy...if you are one. When a crime you never committed is being pinned to your record! And not one of your friends ever talk to you again, not even after the tons of texts you sent them.

This is the point where you feel your life is ending, and the only times you get out of your bedroom is to sleep, eat, and go downtown to the police station. Fortunately, your parents are working something out with the police at this time.

"She's just a child!" They protest.

This child that they speak of is 23 years old. But parents will be parents, believing that their children will always be children.

After several peaceful months of staying in your room, under house arrest at your parents, the police have finally worked something out. Your parents have agreed without telling you that the agreement concerned you moving out of the town. Not only that, but you can't contact anyone you know from this town after you move. Your parents can only give you an apartment, a plane ticket, some necessities, and a phone. What a joke, who would you call, now that you can no longer call your parents or friends.

Right now, you're probably glad that you are yourself and not me. How I wish I could feel the same relief you do now. But I am not you and you are not me. Pity.


	2. Stranger Danger

"Whom are you waiting for?" He came up without me noticing, and was now standing by my side.

He had broken my thoughts.

"I haven't seen you around, so you must have just arrived to town," he continued.

I wanted to tell him Ikebukuro is a big city and that it could be highly possible for him never to notice me at all, but I HAD just arrived into town. This guy could be described as cute by women, with a muscular build and raven black hair. He also had almost red, brown eyes, that could only be described as indescribable. They were the kind you would expect a vampire or the Big bad wolf to have. The kind that has the hint of all sorts of personalities. The kind that kind of pierce your soul and make you go blind if you stare at them for too long.

Which he was using to gaze intently at me without even turning his head fully.

If you looked at us from 10 feet away, you could barely tell we were (or more accurately he was) speaking to each other, if you couldn't hear us (more accurately, him).

"Are you afraid of me, Han-Chan?"

How did he know my name? He just said he hadn't seen me around before...but it couldn't be that he was just EXTREMELY lucky and guessed (correctly) my name. Was it? I decided to act as if I had no idea what he was talking about or who he was talking to.

"Hanzuki," A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, "It's very rude to ignore someone when they are talking to you."

But. He. Just. Said. My. Name.

He sighed, "This is getting annoying and immature, Han-Chan. Let's cut the crap and talk to each other like civilized people, now shall we?"

"My parents told me not to talk to strangers," I blurted out. I began to feel very uncomfortable.

The stranger laughed.

I began to feel goose bumps tingling up my arms. I was not cold.

"What? Are you going to call the police on me, because your mommy told you to?" He teased.

I began to feel my cheeks grow red.

"No...It's just...Please leave me alone! I don't know you, and that makes me very uncomfortable talking to someone I don't even know!"

He tilted his head slightly, looking at me fully for the first time, "Would it make you feel better if I introduced myself then?" he asked.

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"I...just don't feel comfortable around boys!"

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Han-Chan?"

"Leave me alone or...I will call the police!"

He waved his hand, as if brushing the threat aside and said, "I've met them many times. One more visit wouldn't matter really."

What kind of character was this guy? Don't tell me I've met a criminal accidentally only three minutes I've been here!

"Izaya Orihara".

"What?"

"That's my name. Izaya Orihara, forever 21 year old." Izaya smiled to himself.

"Okay, that's very nice Orihara-san."

Izaya combed through his hair with his fingers, "That's it?"

"What?"

"No name or anything...you really are suspicious of me aren't you Han-Chan?"

"No I-"

"You're afraid of _boys_." He rolled his eyes, "You act more innocent than I thought, Han-Chan. It's almost adorable." Izaya coughed, and corrected himself, "For a human, I mean."

Isn't he a human too?

"Aren't there any questions you want to ask me? I can't uphold a conversation myself, you know."

"Um...why are you wearing all black and a Eskimo jacket with fur, when it's _at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside?"_ It was the first thought that came to mind. "You look like a hot Eskimo in Japan. You look like you should be up in the Arctic."

"_Hot_ Eskimo?" He emphasized the adjective.

"Well...you know...like as in you look hot! No...that didn't turn out right...I meant, um, temperature...wise..." I stuttered.

"I take it back. Maybe you're not as innocent as you pretend." His smirk grew even more cat like.

"Don't you want help with those?" Izaya gestured toward my travel bags.

"Wait a second! How do you even know my name? Why are you here anyway? Were you waiting for me?!" That horrified thought crossed my mind.

If he was waiting for me that meant 1)He intended to kidnap me 2)He was a friend of my family, and I had just treated him very disrespectfully or 3)He's a secret stalker, who followed me from my hometown to Ikebukuro. Though, number 1 seemed pretty unlikely...it could be possible.

He held up his hands, "Hold on, first questions first. 1)I've researched you, and following your life quite closely since you've caught my interest...in that hmm...accident-"

I snorted. One, he referred to my being framed in a crime I didn't commit, and two, my number 3 assumption could be possible now.

"2) Due to the information taken from answer no.1, you can assume that I've waited here to meet you since you so conveniently arrived in my city...and that tells you the answer to question number 3. Which is yes, I was waiting for you to arrive from the subway train. So do you want me to help you with those?" He switched topics smoothly.

"No. I rather not have _some creepy Eskimo dude _follow me home."

"Oh, you hurt my feelings Han-Chan!" He pouted, sticking his lower lip farther out than his upper.

A harsh baritone voice cut through the air, "IZAYA!"

And a second later, a vending machine was airborne.

Heading straight toward me.

"Wha-!"

A gentle tug on my shoulders, a whoosh of air as something huge swept past my face, a great BOOM as the huge item crashes through something, and a gasp of shock uttered from my lips.

"You can open your eyes now Han-Chan," Izaya murmured in my ear.

"Then stop holding me so tightly," I grumble, embarrassed at the fact of being scared in front of this _creep._

"You don't want me to?" He chuckled.

I was about to fire a back a remark, when I opened my eyes to see a..._bartender(?)_ walking briskly toward us.

"Izaya, didn't I tell you to stay away from Ikebukuro? I thought I made that very clear the last time you were here." I recognized the deep voice as the one earlier yelling 'IZAYA'.

But...this guy couldn't have thrown a vending machine could he? That was impossible; sure he was muscular, but no way could he have lifted a vending machine and try to throw it at great speed accurately at its target...

"Shizzy-chan. I still have tiny gravel pebbles stuck in my hands and bruises up my right side from last time." Izaya laughed, "But you caught me off guard that time. Believe me, I'll never let that happen again. Though, this time you have to let me go. After all, you wouldn't hurt a girl would you Shizzy-Chan?"

"What are yo-" he finally noticed me. The bartender, Shizzy-Chan, was frighteningly tall up close. He is at least 6 ft tall and I'm only 5 ft 7"...It was frighteningly, shocking difference in height.

Shizzy-Chan cleared his throat, "Izaya, you have even lowered yourself to using girls as shields?" He pulled on blue sunglasses, "Nothing less I wouldn't expect from a _flea._"

To me he said, "I'm sorry you were caught up in this. Quick, now that you have a chance, run, run as fast as you can."

And I probably would have attempted to do that if Izaya didn't have such a strong grip on my shoulder suddenly.

"Shizuo, what are you saying to Hanzuki? It's not like I'm a bad guy...you are, after all, the one who threw a vending machine at her."

"I didn't mean to! It was meant for your smug face, flea." Shizuo grumbled.

"Shizzy, I mean _Shizuo-kun, _I forgive you because I know you meant...to hit Izaya...instead." I finished lamely.

"Why aren't you running? Aren't you scared of this guy?" He questioned.

"Come on Shizzy-Chan, I'm not that big of a monster. I wouldn't hurt my humans," Izaya paused, reconsidering, "But I wouldn't stand in their way if they wanted to hurt themselves either..."

Shizuo ignored him, "Don't tell me you're one of those annoying, idiotic fan girls. I don't see what is so appealing about a flea to women."

"I'm positively am not!" I informed him indignantly.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"Oh come on Shizzy-Chan, Han-Chan would prefer not to smell one of those toxic drugs," Izaya protested.

Shizuo's eyes glared at Izaya through his blue sunglasses. If looks could kill...

Izaya turned back towards me, and bent to grab my stuff.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"I'm just being a gentleman, and helping you with your things." He replied nonchalantly.

Shizuo almost choked on his cigarette when he heard _gentleman_.

Izaya started to walk away.

"You now live in complex 4 of the Sunnyside Acorns apartments right? Suite 118, if I remember correctly." He called over his shoulder at me.

"How do you even know where I live?!"

I started to chase after him and my stuff, when Shizuo grabbed my arm.

"Look, Han-Chan or whomever you are. I certainly don't trust Izaya, and I recommend that you don't either. But if you insist on hanging around him, just remember to keep your guard up okay?" He said softly so Izaya wouldn't hear.

"Han-Chan! Are you coming? Or do I have to break into your apartment myself?" Izaya shouted a block away.

I take a long look at Shizuo. He stares back. It's as if tension is between us, even if we don't know each other. What brought it on?

"I'd better go before he does what he says... and gets us both in trouble with the police." I say awkwardly; almost apologetically.

"Then go ahead; just be careful around Ikebukuro. There's...not nice people who hang around here, and I wouldn't want to see an innocent girl get hurt." He smiled, "Though I do think you should visit one place in particular around here. Simon's Sushi, the manager and I are friends. Just tell him you're a friend of Shizuo, and you'll have 5 star service from that guy. Don't be frightened by his size. He really is a nice guy."

And like that the tension was broken. By him recommending me to a sushi place run by a giant guy like him. Great.

"See you around," he says as I start to run after Izaya.

He says something else, but I'm to far away to hear it clearly.

...

(Approximately 2 minutes and 39 seconds (plus exactly 0.38 milliseconds) later)

I had almost caught up to Izaya, who was still walking, and thankfully he hadn't started running. We were rounding a building corner, when I collided with someone.

"I'm so sorry!" A sheepish male voice apologized.

He was kneeling right next to me, his face showing genuine concern. He had black hair, but unlike Izaya's it didn't have bangs in going slanted across his face. He had a green and white zip up jacket on, but looked like he had a blue school uniform underneath. His satchel (_how many guys carry those?)_ had a patch sewed on it, that announced he was a student attending Raira Academy. Raira Academy must be a local high school.

"Are you hurt?" He was truly and utterly flustered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there! I should have looked."

Izaya helped me up. His eyes twinkled with amusement.

"You seem to be accident prone Han-Chan."

This student got this clouded over expression on his face, I couldn't help but think, 'Oh no, he has some connection which leads him to dislike Izaya Orihara too.'

"Oh what's this? Mikado you ditched me to go flirt up a chick? Some friend you are, leaving behind your best wingman!" An overly dramatic voice resounded behind the Raira Academy student.

Another Raira Academy student, the same age as the previous, with dyed blonde hair and a silver cuff on his ear appeared. He took his arm around the other student as if to playfully wrestle, and rubbed his hand on the student's head hard. I guess the first student's name must be Mikado.

The blonde student looked up and smiled at me.

"I guess Mikado hasn't apologized yet to you-" He began

"But Kida, I have!" Mikado interrupted indignantly.

"So I guess I will have to for him!" Kida continued ignoring Mikado, "and will personally invite you to dinner with me at Simon Sushi!" He finished grandly.

"But I thought we were both going to Simon's Russian Sushi? You said-" Mikado broke in.

"Mikado, you wouldn't want to be the third wheel would you? Unless..." Kida got a funny smirk on his face, very similar to one of Izaya's, "you'd like to bring Anri along to. Group dating!"

"Kida," Mikado turned to me, "No offense to you but-", he turned back to Kida, "Isn't she kind of too old for you?"

"Yes, she is," Izaya said simply grabbing me around the shoulders, "And she is very tired, and would like to go home and unpack."

Don't I have any say in any of this?

Kida rolled his eyes at Izaya, (_was that a detection of anger I saw?) _"Whatever Mikado. You just want her all to yourself, I see your angle now! Besides, how old _are_ you?" he turned to me.

"_Didn't anyone tell you it's not polite to ask ladies their ages?"_ Izaya smiled but his tone was all wrong.

There was history between these two wasn't there? And it was pretty obvious by now that it was a dark and bad history they shared.

"Like you would know anything about politeness." Kida snorted, "Let her answer for herself."

_At long last...Thankfully I can now speak for myself._

"I am kind of too old for you..." I smile, "But I'm sure there is someone out there for you."

"Wow, Masaomi, you got rejected!" yet another voice calls, this one female.

"Erika? Walker? Where's Kadota and Saburo?" Masaomi laughs and looks around.

"This looks like a family reunion. Let's get out of here." Izaya grabs my hand.

"No, you should stay. I want you to join everyone for supper!" Kida calls over his shoulder.

"Hanzuki, is this really smart? You don't even know these guys, except the fact one of them ran into you." Izaya hissed urgently in my ear.

"Just wait here a second, then, I'll just tell him I'd have to refuse his invitation."

There's a van parked by the side of the road that everyone has either chosen to stand next to, or disappear inside. It has tinted windows, so you can't make out much behind the shiny glass. Kida pops his head out of the door.

"Hey you! Come inside and meet everyone!" He says when he sees me.

Inside he asks, "What's your name anyway?"

"Hanzuki O'Rooit."

He snickers, "That's a funny name." Then he acts serious again, "I meant unusual as in you don't hear that often."

"I get that a lot."

"Well then Hanzuki, this is everyone." He points at a man in a zip up jacket with a black beanie(as in the hat, not the stuff animal!) over his head, "That's Dotachin, he's sort of the leader of this group...besides me of course."

Dotachin frowns, "My name's actually Kadota. Don't call me Dotachin, I hate that nickname. After all, I hate the person who gave me it."

_Who gave it to him then? Masaomi? An ex girlfriend? His dead father maybe?_

That is, if he has a dead father.

"And that's Erika and Walker over there", Kida points to a girl with a black cap over black hair, and a guy with a blue jacket and brown hair. They're both obsessing over manga books.

"Ah ha! I have you there! See, I have the limited copy of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimaya book 5!" Erika exclaims.

"That was never limited edition!" Walker argues, "Besides, I have a Black Rock Shooter doll that's 5 and a 1/4 tall, that can be put in different poses. In the packaging still, and it cost me $289.99 when I got it!"

"Let me see that!" Erika wrestles the doll out of his hands.

"No one cares you two." _Dotac- _Kadota says exasperated.

"And that over there is Saburo. This is his van, and he's really overly protective about it. As for me, I'm Kida Masaomi and the guy who ran into you was my good friend Mikado."

Mikado blushes, "Masaomi, that's not a good way to describe me as 'the-guy-who-ran-into-you-'!"

"Whatever, can we go get sushi now?" Saburo says impatiently, "HEY YOU TWO", he says to Erika and Walker as they fight over the BRS doll, "DON'T SCRATCH UP THE SEATS!"

"Hold on a second," I say to Masaomi, and climb out of the van.

I look around but the space outside is empty.

Izaya's gone, and so is all my luggage. Which includes all of my money, contacts, phone, clothing, apartment keys, and person ID. They're all gone.


	3. Eat my sushi (It's Good!)

...

"What's the matter Hanzuki-san? You seemed upset after you got back in the car." Mikado spoke as we waited for the sushi.

Shizuo wasn't wrong. Simon was the scariest guy you've ever met, when you first meet him. Though, as he said, he is a really nice guy after you know him. After I told Simon I knew Shizuo, Simon practically tried to shove sushi coupons and sushi samples into my face. With the 'EAT RUSSIAN SUSHI! IT'S GOOD! YOU LIKE!' saying he has, he made me try, 'The chicken sushi, the tofu sushi, the special deluxe edition Ikebukuro sushi, and the sushi-Izaya-will-be-when-you-find-him-and-your-stu ff sushi.' Okay, obviously was kidding about the sushi varieties, but there are absolutely too many kinds of sushi out there to eat. In fact, there were so many, I didn't even want to eat when we got ready to order. Not that the sushi wasn't good or anything; IT WAS FANTASTIC...it just filled you up quickly and gave you a stomach ache if you ate too much...

I put a hand to my stomach, "It's nothing. Right now, my stomach just hurts from eating so much."

It isn't hard to fake pain when you are actually feeling it.

"I'm surprised, I haven't seen anyone eat that much sushi in one sitting by themselves." Kadota had a shocked expression.

"Wow, Hanzuki! You inhaled that sushi! You're such a _buta_!" Masaomi exclaimed.

_He just called me a pig...in Japanese._

"I'm sure you're not a pig!" A flustered Mikado apologized, "That was rude Masaomi!"

"Oink oink!" Erika teased.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Walker asked.

"She could be Kyou's pet from Clannad!" They both exclaim.

"Otakus..." was all Kadota could say.

The door announced that someone had walked into the restaurant.

"Shizuo! Glad to have you back!" Simon came bursting out of the doors to the kitchen.

"Hey Simon." Shizuo appeared, walking through the tables and chairs.

He noticed me.

"How many platters of sushi did he make you eat?" he asked, smiling to himself.

"24 plates," Dotachin informed him, "Man, can this girl eat."

"That's my _buta-chan!"_ Shizuo smiled.

What the heck, he does know we are complete strangers? Not best buddies? For pete's sake, does he even know my full name?

"What are you doing here?" I asked him in a tone harsher than I meant.

"My boss Tanaka is treating all of his workers to sushi. I'm supposed to retrieve the order," He nodded to Kida, "What's his problem?"

Kida was in the corner of the booth sulking.

"_His buta-chan..." _he mumbled to himself.

Mikado patted his back soothingly.

"It's a LOVE TRIANGLE!" Erika exclaimed, "Just like in the animes!"

She frowned, "But aren't you supposed to be with Izaya? I mean you're SHIZAYA for the love of yaoi sake!"

"What?" Shizuo also frowned, "Unless you mean I LOVE to kill him...yeah..."

And with those last 9 words, it was like Erika had blood squirt out of nose...just like in the animes...

"Shizuo LOVES IZAYA!I WONDER ALL THE KIND OF THINGS-" At this point, both Walker and Saburo restrained her, while Dotachin worked on gagging her with his hat.

Completely oblivious to the yaoi fan girl attack that was occurring, Shizuo asked, "What's your name anyway?"

So he DOES does not know my name. Figures.

"And I don't see the flea here. Where is he lurking?"

This caused another fan girl attack from Erika which he also ignored.

"I don't know. But when you see him, make sure you beat the crap out of him."

"Well, well. Welcome back to the world of the reason and sense. What caused this?"

"He stole my stuff."

At this Kida perked up slightly, "Seems like something he would do," he muttered under his breath, "I hate that guy."

"Join the club." Shizuo laughed, "I'll make sure you get to have your share of the Izaya killing when we cross that bridge. That bridge can't come soon enough."

And yet another Erika attack follows.

...

Shizuo left, once Simon got his order ready and he got my full name. Though he said, 'I like calling you buta-chan instead.' Like I would let that continue to happen anytime soon.

Erika started to calm down after he left, and our (or their) sushi finally arrived. Kida remained in a sulk the entire dinner, and Mikado awkwardly joined the conversation sometimes.

Erika and Walker never joined though, since they were too caught up in their own. They even had an in depth conversation on whether Lelouch vi Britannia would win against Ichigo from Bleach.

"Obviously not," Walker argued, "Lelouch Lamperouge is already dead. Besides, he doesn't really fight 1 to 1. He needs his army of Britannia rebels to control and fight for him."

"Of course Lelouch is dead! That was already shown to the fans in the second season of Code Geass!" Erika said, "But I mean before that!"

"Ichigo is more experienced and capable hand to hand combat fighter than Lelouch," Walker continued on his lecture, "So that means brawn beats brains in this competition."

"No..."

And the thing is, they continued that topic without getting bored for the rest of the supper.

"Okay everyone in!" Saburo ordered.

He broke my flashback, and now we were all standing outside Simon's by Saburo's car.

"Are you sure you guys don't want a ride home?" Kadota leaned his head out of the passenger's window.

"Nah," Kida replied, "Besides, I don't want to be in the backseat again with Erika and Walker..." He shuddered.

It was a horrific thought indeed.

"Okay then. Nice to meet you Hanzuki. See you guys around." And with that he rolled up his window and they drove away.

"Let's get you home before it gets dark out Hanzuki." Kida started walking.

...

"Are you sure this is the right place Kida?" Mikado questioned.

He was wondering, and so was I. The place was spooky dark, and none of the windows had lights on, that we could see. It was on the newly built side of Ikebukuro, so that was nice...except there was hardly any neighbors or people out. The only person we saw, was a runner, going two blocks _in the opposite direction._

To say the least, it wasn't a very good omen.

"I'm sure." Kida rolled his eyes, "Don't be such a scaredy cat Mikado."'

And with that, they walked me all the way up to my door, even though I had no idea how to get in, since Izaya took my keys, and left me.

The door is open a crack and light shines just the tiniest light on the carpet so that it is barely noticeable. Nervously, I grab the door handle and push it open.

"You stayed out late Han-Chan. Did you have a good time?"

...

"What's that look for?"

Okay, first of all, you ditched me. Two, you stole my stuff, which included my ID, phone, cash, and apartment keys. Third and final, you broke into my apartment using my keys and proceeded to wait for me there.

Not creepy at all.

'Seems like something he would do' Masaomi had said.

_Just what kind of creep is this guy?_

"Nothing..." I looked away, and quietly shut the door.

He laughed, "It could be worse."

"And how so?"

He rolled his eyes, "Use your imagination."

Erika probably would've been dead by now from all the blood leakage.

I walk into what was supposed to be my room. It was supposed to be empty of anything because I hadn't unpacked...

But the room I walked into was as if I was intruding into _someone else's room_ because every inch of space was packed with stuff. And only 70 percent did I recognize as my own.

"I unpacked for you when you were out." Izaya appeared in the door way without me noticing.

I flinched. He laughed.

"Are you still putting up that, _I'm Miss Innocent, and I'm afraid of boys,_ act again?" He snickered.

"No, it's just you scared me."

"Right, because I'm a boy."

I gave up. He wouldn't accept any answers I gave anyway, so it was a waste of time trying.

My 'room' was full of my unpacked stuff. My bed was already made, military style, with the sheets and everything. All of the clothes I had stuffed in my suitcase were packed in drawers in my dresser...and neatly. _WAIT, he messed with my clothes?!_

"You touched my clothes?!"

"Of course not, in fact I didn't do any of this really. I got my secretary to do it."

_There was another person in my apartment...and they touched my clothes!?_

_"_Oh relax, Namie is a girl like you, so you shouldn't feel uncomfortable." He laughed again, "I had to um, _convince,_ her to do it for about half and hour. It took her ¥ 1,001,200,000,000.0000 to do it." (Note from author: ¥ 1001200000000.0000 = $ 10,000,000,000

_He has a messed up version on what it will take for a girl to relax._

"Namie is your secretary. She must have guts." _Or you must pay well._ I add silently.

"No, she's just desperate for a job and something to do. Very undignified I must say."

It's undignified if you want to pay someone to clean a stranger's room that you broke into.

"What's that look for? It's not as if you came home, and walked in on me folding your clothes."

"Well...did you fold my clothes?"

"No. I just told you Namie did." Izaya said in a frustrated tone, as if '_these stupid humans can't get an idea through their dumb skulls.'_

"Okay then, where did all of this stuff that's not mine come from?" I gesture around the room.

"Just something I found."

He probably 'found' this stuff at an expensive furniture store.

"Besides, I needed to make it up to you."

"For what? Stealing my stuff and ditching me?"

"No." He met my gaze head on, "I meant that I'm the one who framed you for that crime."

**Author: Wow! Short chapter...though the next one will be normal size again... But I had to leave this cliffhanger! LOVE YOU GUYS.**


	4. Point of View of ShizuoWorstTimingEva

There was a disturbance.

In Ikebukuro.

And I could just tell the flea was somewhere to blame for it.

About Hanzuki...the new girl in the town...I feared for her life.

I knew how Izaya used innocent, depressed girls. He treated them like disposable chess pawns fighting for his entertainment. When he had enough, he disposed of them; one way or another. In short, he didn't care about anyone except himself.

He was so annoying but you could never locate him. He wouldn't stop. He always got his way in one way or another. He only considered himself. The only way to describe Izaya was a pest..._a flea._

And I'm sorry if I hurt any of the Izaya fans out there...who am I kidding? The little creep couldn't possibly have fans...he's a flea.

I remember the first time I laid my poor eyes on that pest. And we hated each other since.

Why?

A lot of things in my life could've been done or saved if I didn't meet him. I probably could've met a girl. I could've gotten a decent job. I could've saved my reputation, instead of being known as the man who beat up all ten guys at the bar he was serving. Or the guy you should avoid. Or the most dangerous guy ever. That kind of stuff doesn't actually attract girls as I've been finding out all past what, seven years of my life. Instead, this creep had to provoke me and my hate for him and cause me to lose whatever could've been.

Kind of makes me sad thinking about it.

Kind of; but not really.

When I met Hanzuki, I was like, 'Darn, I have another girl who's scared of me, and she hasn't even been here for an hour.'

But thing was, she didn't even seem upset about it. It was like she had this, 'Oh I get vending machines thrown at me all the time.' aura she had on. And _she said that she knew I wasn't even trying to hit her, and she forgave me.'_ There's not many girls out there who will say that, if you hadn't noticed. Most will be like, 'You have issues, you should go see a doctor, I'm filing a restraining order against you...blah blah blah.' Just typical stuff from girls if you throw a vending machine at them.

Besides, I'm not even interested in girls. They're too delicate, so whenever I'm around one I feel like I could potentially crush them if I wasn't careful.

So just to clarify, I'm NOT romantically interested in Hanzuki. After all, she's only a girl.

Now hold on Erika!

That doesn't mean I'm interested in guys either. They're all too stupid and violence-crazy for their own good. I hate violence.

I'M NOT IN A YAOI RELATIONSHIP ERIKA!

Someone needs to get that girl a new mind clear of any thoughts. I think hers has malfunctioned. Just to sum everything up, I hate people. They're too self-absorbed, hungry for blood, overdramatic, depressed, or just (like in Erika's case) stupid. It makes me mad just thinking about it.

I hate people.

**NOTE FROM AUTHOR: When I was reading my writing, I noticed I made Shizuo sound very unShizuo-like, so I decided to add this chapter in his point of view from what happened in the last chapter. I don't think I made him sound more Shizuo-like though...and I kind of killed any love Shizuo might've had in this story for any of those fan girls out there who secretly are reading this just for Shizuo, in the hopes there are some love scenes or whatever...sorry to disappoint. I like Shizuo too...but he just doesn't seem interested when we 'interviewed' him for this chapter...However, he could be lying to us! Maybe he secretly has feelings-Oh gosh I sound like Erika. Um sorry for all of this love killing in this chapter, I fully accept any hating. **

**On the other hand, this chapter has appeared at the worst moment ever as you guys are still tensed from the last chapter right? #WorstTimingEva **

**Be prepared for some serious catfights next chapter, and ONE SERIOUS TANTRUM (ps. not from Hanzuki)...sorry...just kidding...but still, keep looking for the next chapter...which should be up tonight sometime, or tomorrow morning. AND I WAS KIDDING ABOUT THE CATFIGHTS AND TANTRUM PART...SO DON'T GET MAD WHEN YOU DON'T FIND ANY.**


	5. The End Of Part One (More Parts to Come)

I couldn't help it.

A tear rolled out my eye, and slid down my cheek.

He looked like a black colored blob. I wish he was only that. A black colored blob, probably, was the correct description of his heart. If he had one that is.

"You humans are always_ so self absorbed._ Always concerned with your own meaningless lives. You know someday no one on Earth will even know your name anymore. Yet you all still try unfailingly to make a difference in the world." The blob kept on saying.

He didn't offer so much as a tissue and never an 'I'm sorry.'

"Humans will be humans. I love you all, you know."

"But sometimes, you need a push in a direction..."

_A push that could let you fall in jail..._I add silently.

Tears are falling rapidly now.

If he hadn't framed me for _it._ If he didn't I would still be with my friends, and everyone would have complete trust in me. I could get a job, and go to college. And not move to Ikebukuro.

Then, I wouldn't meet Shizuo, or Masaomi. Not Mikado, Simon, or Kadota and his gang.

And certainly, not this messed up psycho of an Eskimo.

_Plat. Splat. Drip. Drop. Tears are rolling gently now..._

And suddenly, I see clearly through the blobs of my tears.

And I wrap my arms around the middle of the black blob and I bury my face into it's center.

Izaya is so surprised that I'm hugging him he goes stiff as a board, and _most peacefully of all_ quits talking.

"Arigato." I whisper into the blob.

I laugh quietly. After all, I wouldn't have met every fantastic person today without him.

"It's nice hearing silence isn't it? I'll interrupt it! Even if I'm not going to make a difference! So what if no one hears it? That's fine, because I'll hear it!"

I continue, "And you're human too! So don't act so high and mighty," and at this I pounded my fist against his shirt for every word, "because you just act like a big fat jerky BLOB!"

And a silence continues.

And it goes on and on. It's peaceful.

"Hanzuki, you're getting my shirt wet."

"Sorry." And I let go.

I guess it didn't go through to him.

But then, he took off his jacket and proceeded to wipe my tear gently off my face. And when he was done, he hugged me close again.

"I'm sorry for making you cry." Izaya mumbled into my hair, "I went overboard."

"You're a jerk."

He sighed, "I'm a jerk," he agrees.

"And you're over obsessed with controlling people. They'll do whatever they want, and they always have a choice you know."

"I'm over obsessed."

"Yes you are."

"I guess I got bored."

_Geez, so boredom provoked all of this?_

_'He's going back to being Izaya again, isn't he. Please just keep this way Izaya_!' I urgently thought.

"Why aren't you angry?" He corrected, "More angry, that I kind of ruined your life."

I roll my eyes, "You _did_ ruin my life."

"Whatever. Same thing." He said in a indifferent tone, a '_I feel bad, but I'm Izaya so I don't show emotions.'_

And just like that, the moment's gone.

"I'm glad you brought me here though." I try desperately to snatch one more second of the moment.

"You're welcome." And he let go of me.

That's it. He didn't say anything else. Here I was thanking him for _basically ruining my life_, and he says 'You're welcome'?!

Does anyone else see the irony in that?

Izaya looked onward_ (as if there's anything to see behind my door...)_, and said, "Hanzuki. I have to leave; I have a meeting with a client to fulfill. Goodbye."

And with that stiff message he walks out of the door. Not even looking back. Not that I care. He broke my life...but I wouldn't have met all those people...

What kind of job does Izaya have anyway that he can have all this free time to mess with a girl's life and still have clients...and not to mention a _girl _secretary...and make all that yen at once? Seems fishy too me, like he's been doing some underground work. One thing I do know, is that I hate Izaya now, but like him even more at the same time.

_End of Part One (_Don't worry, this isn't the end...there still more to come, on this story. After all, I haven't even mentioned a word about a kidnapping, have I?)


	6. I'm Back with Part Two (or Depression)

...

I've decided I don't like Izaya.

I've decided I do like Izaya.

Loves me, Loves me not...the petals of the flower ride on the breeze as I toss them off the flower. I never understood the idea of plucking a flower for the idea if a guy loves you or not. Because what's left is just something ugly with no petals and no scent. A waste of time and a something beautiful, I thought once. I think I understand now...the flower represents your love, and what's left when that love is plucked off into pieces, is something ugly...a waste of time and a relationship that was once beautiful. I get it now.

It's been a week since I've seen anyone I've met when I arrived. It's been lonely, even though, to tell the truth; I don't notice it that much. I should get a job, I know, but right now I'm just living off of the money my parents, family, and friends gave me before I was _'uprooted'._Which means, if I want the money to last, Ramen Noodles out of the container and powdered milk. I'm pretty sure the milk has already expired and that's why it was so cheap...To say the least, I miss Simon's food. But I don't want to go outside; not anymore. I might bump into someone I know and then, maybe I'm just paranoid now, but I have the hunch that one of those days I'd bump into _him._

And I'd rather avoid that for as long as possible.

_knock knock_

_Is someone at the door?_

_knock knock_

_Won't they stop when they realize no one will answer?_

_knock knock_

_Will they?_

_knock knock_

I've only touched the door knob when I went out to get the food. The flowers grew near the window of my room. I've only twice touched the knob; once to get in, and the other to get out.

_Turn the handle. Say something before they go away. Do something._

It's not Izaya who made me such a wreck. At least that's what I tell myself. I blame it on me being anti-social, and whether that's the partial truth or the whole truth, I can't tell anymore.

_creak_

And the door opens.

Light floods the room for the first time in days.

"Hanzuki. You're a mess."

Shizuo stared at me, his expression horrific. Then he looked me in the eyes.

"Your eyes are dilated." He said simply, "You should turn on the lights in here."

And he turned them on. Simple.

I winced as more light flooded the room. It hurt my eyes.

"Is that the same outfit you wore two weeks ago?" His tone was incredulous.

Two weeks he said. Was it really that long of a time ago? It felt...like it was just ten hours ago.

"And your apartment's a mess."

He was right. There were pillows on the ground with the permanent outline of my form, and noodles were encrusted to the wood floors. The new, high class apartment no one had lived in before two weeks ago, was now utterly, and sufficiently trashed. The petals I thought had gone out the window were strewn everywhere on the floor, and as Shizuo closed the door, the petals rustled on the ground in the sudden air current.

"It was the flea wasn't it?" He didn't even wait for an answer, "I swear, when I see him next, (and I'm going to hunt him down) I'm going to kick his-"

And then he said a word that refers to butt, that I am not allowed to say.

"Hanzuki," He spun on his heel to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, "You got to snap out of this. Whatever Izaya did to you, you need to forget it. Forget it." He shook me harder on the last two words.

He released his grip, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I really needed that."

Shizuo observed his surroundings, "I want you to go take a shower, and I'll clean up okay?"

"A shower?"

"And then, we're going out. You need actual food and groceries. Not to mention, a vacuum cleaner." He sniffed, "And maybe some of that sprayey stuff that makes things smell better."

"Febreze?"

"Go take a shower. You reek."

...

I don't think it's Izaya who put me necessarily into this...depression. It's more like, what hit me was what could've been if he didn't mess with my life. Not the 'Oh he didn't kiss me at that love scene in chapter 9' because, I'm not that girl. My thoughts aren't filled with Izaya Orihara, unlike in some animes...

I step out of the shower. It's time, I start living in the present again instead of dwelling on the past. That's what I did before, wasn't it?

Crap, I forgot to take my clothes in here.

I open the door a crack, with my towel wrapped around me.

"Hey Shizuo, wherever you are. I am coming out, so I need you to go into someplace that's not my room, and go stare at a wall or something."

"Will do." I heard from the living room, where I used to be sleeping.

"Okay then."

Outside of the steamy bathroom, the air was cold. Why didn't I notice this before? Is it just because I stepped out of the hot water? But the thermostat said 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Was that cold? I don't even remember.

"Are you done yet?" Shizuo called from the living room.

"NO!"

"Well, what do you have to do then?"

"Nothing you can help me with!"

"All you have to do is pull on pants, underwear, and a shirt. It's that easy."

_For a guy. I think he's forgetting girls have to at least put on pants, underwear, a shirt, a cami under that shirt, something called a bra, deodorant, and lotion. Occasionally, the spritz of perfume._

He's hopeless.

"I beg to differ!" I shout back.

"Well what else do you have to put on besides that?" There was an awkward pause as he registered everything he knew about girls, "Oh. That. Still, wouldn't that only take you a minute at most? It's hair!"

Hair? That's the best he came up with? He's got to be kidding.

"Never mind. I'm almost done anyway."

A tug to pull down my shirt all the way down, and then a quick brush, and out the door.

"You still look like a mess." Shizuo teased.

"Well, I needed more time!" I purse my lips.

"That's an interesting face."

"What?"

"Nothing, it just looks like you got fat put into your lips. Hmm...what do they call it...Oh the duck face!"

"I'm not a duck."

"Of course not, you're a _buta_, I thought we went through this."

"Whatever, let's just get the groceries you wanted."

"You're welcome."

"What?"

And then I notice how clean my apartment looks. Even cleaner than when I first saw it; if that's possible.

"Are you secretly one of those guy maids who are always in anime and manga?"

He frowns, "Can you imagine me in one of those dresses?"

"No..." I burst out laughing.

It's too funny imagining him in a dress and then going, 'Bocchan!' to everyone. He'd probably hit them with a vending machine if they tried to order him around.

Maybe he could be Sebastian Michealis...from Black Butler. (Note: I am aware of the connection between Sebby and Shizzy...voice actors...)

"What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing."

...

The actual sunlight hurts my eyes even more than the indoor lights.

"You look like a vampire." Shizuo commented, "With those purple bags, the shielding of the face, and the all black anti-happy look you have going on there."

"Shut up."

"Hey, that's my line!" He protested.

It was only noon, and we hadn't done anything, except sit down at Simon's.

"Shizuo! _Buta-Chan!_ Nice to see you. Long time, no see, no?" Simon walked over, "Now what would you like to order?"

Apparently, my nickname has gotten popular at Simon's. Even strangers I don't know, but witnessed the event go, 'Sup Buta-Chan, my bro.'

"So why were you at my door anyway?" I ask Shizuo, shaking out any thoughts.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. My boss gave me the day off." He got a dark look in his eyes, "Good thing I stopped by."

"Yeah, thanks."

"No problem."

"What do you do anyway?"

"I work for Tanaka my employer. He's a loaner, sort of like a private underground bank. So he gets a lot of clients, who are not known to be the best or reasonable people. I act as his bodyguard."

"Oh."

I could see that. Crashing people through walls for a living seemed completely in character for a guy like Shizuo.

"What does Izaya do?"

Before, Shizuo could say anything, Simon came up.

"Hanzuki! I've heard that you don't have a job yet, yes?"

"Correct..."

"We need a waitress, and the chef and I have agreed we would like you to take the job. Are you up for it? Pay is good."

"When would I work? Do I need a uniform to buy? Do I need training? Is there an interview?"

Simon waved his hand, "No. No. No. No."

"Then, when would I work though?"

"I'll leave that up to you."

And with that he winked and left.

"Sounds like an interesting job to have." Shizuo seemed grateful to switch topics.

"Uhuh." Was all I could add.

"There's probably a sushi discount with it..." he grinned, "That's incentive, right?"

"Haha. I don't know. I'd have to think about it."

And then, the food arrived-shutting us both up.

...

"So have you decided?" Simon leaned against the table.

"I'd be happy to take the job!"

"Good. Sushi's free then."

And he left with, "See you on Monday!"

Shizuo put away his wallet.

...

"You should get milk and chocolate pudding too." Shizuo argued.

He looked at the shopping list he had created, "They're full of dairy, which is good for your muscles."

_I don't have any, Shizuo._

Muscles I mean.

We were shopping with a cart so full of food already, that my dorm sized refrigerator AND all of my cabinets probably couldn't hold.

"I'll be right back," he said, and appeared a second later with the milk and pudding.

It was as pointless arguing with him as much as it was with Izaya.

"What makes you think I can afford all of this?" I fretted.

"Nothing. That's why I'm paying for it."

"What?!"

I don't know about here in Ikebukuro, but back in my old town, if you paid for something for someone...it automatically means you're going out together.

I don't think we're _that_ close.

"It's OK. I've got this." And he took out his wallet, "Besides, I owe you for the sushi."

Right, that.

"Okay, then...well, whatever."

Walking out of the store was a spectacle with all the groceries. Shizuo piled all of the bags on each other, and carried them in his arms that way, much to my embarrassment.

It was like the leaning tower of _junk_ instead of Pisa. To say the least, it attracted attention, especially since here was a guy with a girl he was like two heads taller than, and he was carrying a pile of groceries that were probably 7 feet tall when stacked together. And then, here was I, not carrying anything at all, except a _'You've got to be kidding me Shizuo,' _look across town.

When we had finally arrived at my apartment and packed away all the groceries, Shizuo's cell buzzed.

He looked at it for a second.

"Tanaka is having a last minute meeting with one of his clients. He wants me to be there." He closed his phone, "Will you be alright here alone?"

"Yeah. Don't worry."

"Okay. See you later," and he left.

I was alone again.


	7. The Unlucky

It's Monday.

Usually this day is my least favorite of all seven, but today I felt a sense of..._new life_, I guess.

"And this is the..."

I tuned Simon out again. Technically, I should listen, since this is my new job, but it's _boring,_ really.

"So do you think you have everything, or do you need it again?" Simon asked.

"No, I think I have it."

_I'm not listening through your hour-long lecture again. _I add silently. I like Simon, but he can have the longest, most boring talks on how to be a sushi waitress ever.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then." And he nodded toward the uniforms still packaged in boxes.

The uniform wasn't bad, it was kind of like a girl version of Simon's. I'm supposed to wear my hair in a ponytail, (because apparently I might get my hair in the customer's food) and wear the uniform. It consisted of a white, silky t-shirt with blue trim, a white, silky skirt (that goes to my knees) with blue trim, and white tights. I also had to wear ridiculously white shoes, that remind you of your grandma, and a blue ribbon in my ponytail. Still, it was pretty fashion forward compared to the uniforms I've seen my friends wear.

Walking out of the girl's bathroom in this get up, made me feel very awkward. Like I was cosplaying or something. Though, this would be pretty ugly cosplay.

The door's bell rang, signaling my first customer ever.

_Here we go._

I take a deep breath, and walk, what I hope suggested confidence, into the main room of the restaurant.

It was just a normal couple. I let go of the breath I realized I was holding.

"Hi, and welcome to Russian Sushi!"

...

The first half of the morning had gone well. I didn't mess up an order once, I feel proud to say.

Right now, it was break time. Of course, that didn't mean people stopped coming, it just meant Simon took over. I chew thoughtfully at my homemade salami sandwich.

Break time only lasts for half an hour. I only have a couple of minutes left.

It got pretty busy during lunch hour, but now that it's past two o' clock, the crowd has died down. There's now only four tables full in the restaurant. It's very peaceful.

_tick tock_

And now, I have to pack up already and head back to work.

_ding-dong_

"I'll leave that one for you," Simon comes into the worker's room.

"Alright, I just need to throw this away and wash my hands." I say, as I'm already washing my hands.

The door to the worker's room closed noisily after me, as I walk briskly into the restaurant. I hope the customer wasn't impatient, and left already.

And then, I suck in a sudden deep breath of air.

Because it's him in the doorway.

...

I paste on the most fake smile ever, and I walk so he can see me.

"Welcome to Russian Sushi!" I say in the most fake voice ever.

I'm pretty sure it went up an octave when I said 'Sushi', too. How embarrassing.

Izaya stares. And stares. It makes me uncomfortable...to say the least; since I was uncomfortable already. Why couldn't my break have lasted ten minutes longer?

"Are you afraid of me, Hanzuki?" He finally says.

I flinch. It's been what, only the third time, since he has actually said my full name. I almost miss 'Han-Chan'.

"When you came in, you had a look of pure fear. Then, you smile and talk like you're advertising a product on TV to me. And now, you just flinched and are turning as red as the fatty tuna I want to order."

Fatty tuna, I know from serving, is pretty pink. I think I'm blushing even more now...probably the shade of a pomegranate.

"No." I manage to get out.

"That's funny, because you act like someone who is," He pierced me with his gaze, as intently as the first time he looked at me, "And if you are, that makes it a problem for you to attend to me in this restaurant. I'll leave, if you can't work."

Was he threatening my new job?

"Hanzuki? Do we have a problem?" Simon poked his head out of the worker's room.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the customer I was attending to. Apparently, Izaya's list of haters is bigger than I once thought.

"No. I can handle this," I look over my shoulder.

"Okay. Call if you need me." He retreated.

"Can you really?" Izaya questioned, "Can you handle this... _situation?"_

"Yes. Now would you like to sit down here, in this booth?" I calmly gained composure.

"No, I'd like to have my food to go." He stares.

"You don't have to do that if you want to avoid me! I'll avoid you if you want!" I blurt out, "And if you're trying to threaten me or something, I have Shizuo and Simon to protect me!"

"Very observant." He said simply.

"Why do you want to hurt me so much?! Isn't enough that you ruined my life, then told me about it?" To my embarrassment, tears start to well up again, just like that night.

"It's never enough."

"What?"

He wanted to hurt me all this time?

I wanted him to wipe my tears away, and tell me he was sorry just like that night. So desperately.

"Besides, you've shown you can take it." He glanced away, "Besides, you have Shizuo." He spat out, like the name was a curse.

Why did they hate each other so much anyways?

"This is because I hang out with Shizuo?" I have to wipe my tears away.

"NO." He tensed, "It's more than that! Much more, actually."

What did I do to him? Enough so that he felt he needed to destroy my life?

But I said I needed to live in the future...so why am I still so upset about this fact?

"Never mind. I'm going." And with that, Izaya spun around to walk out of my broken life again.

But why I so upset about all of this anyways? What's done is done. And besides, what did I do to him?

"Hanzuki. Take this." Simon held up a napkin.

I didn't even realize he was standing by my side.

"I think you should go home now. For the rest of the day actually." And another person walks out of my life.

Everything was crashing down at once again. And I was alone.

...

At last, all my tears had dried, and my uniform was put away into my bag. Not that I knew if I would be wearing it anytime soon.

Walking out of the door to Russian Sushi felt like someone was ripping my heart out. Because I knew I had blown another chance at new life.

"There she is now." A guy motioned to me with his head.

"Yeah, that's her alright." A guy next to him nodded, his eyes darting from his phone to me.

"Yo, _buta-chan!"_ Guy number 1 mockingly called me over.

"Yeah, get over here!" Guy number 2 beckoned.

"We have a proposal for you!"

"Yeah, a fun proposal!"

"Come talk to us!"

"Yeah girl! We can have fun!"

They snickered.

Curious among anything, I venture closer. What were they recognizing me from? Russian Sushi? They must since they called me by my nickname.

"That's right! Come over here!"

"Yeah, closer! We don't bite!"

And before I know it, I'm venturing closer than I should ever have gone. And I didn't know how much I'd pay for my curiousness later.

I let out a shriek, but it's too late.

They've already secured the gag to my mouth. It smelled...funny...like...I'm...getting...sl-


	8. Izaya POV (Heart Rending Chapter)

**I've received so many views lately! Thanks guys! Many people requested/advised/forced me to write a chapter with Izaya's point of view now, since he has been developed as the jerk character... So they want to know exactly how he's...feeling. Maybe, some Izaya fan girls will even forgive him when they read this chapter.**

I wasn't proud of what I've done. I'll admit that, though, I won't take it back. I refuse these emotions...I've been feeling. No_ human_ should make me, _a god,_ to feel that way ever again. That emotion, was something I didn't want to say, otherwise, that would mean I accept I did feel it. And that wouldn't be godlike for me to have those feelings. Especially for a human, such a pathetic one like Hanzuki. They're so stupid.

I should never have said, ' I'm sorry', to _her._

Here's my way of thinking about my solution to Hanzuki. Push her away, hurt her so much her soul will crumble like all humans out there, and she'll never cross paths with me again. If we never see each other again, I have no way of thinking of her. I'll forget her one day, and then the problem will be solved. I'll regain my god-like composure.

Simple. So why do I keep thinking of her? Every time I close my eyes, I see her crying, and I feel the urge to go to her apartment and apologize. I've learned to not close my eyes often.

Did I feel jealous that she had regained her will because of _that indecent human,_ Shizuo? Honestly, I can't tell anymore. I think, it's just because of Hanzuki. I just never want to see her again. If I see her, I have to hurt her, and then she'll cry. If we just avoid each other, it's better for all of us.

And that logic of hers...why does she have to fight everything I throw at her? Why can't she just cry and run away, like a normal female human being? But she doesn't.

Why did I even ruin her life in the first place you ask? It's a long story.

_**Flashback Time!**_

_"Why do you even bother with that flower? It's just going to die in a couple of weeks."_

_Her brown eyes softened as she played gently with the flower._

_"All things deserve to look their best, feel their best, and act their best. Especially if they're about to die." She declared._

_I ripped the flower out of the ground._

_"Hey! What are you doing?!" Her eyes widened in terror._

_She loves me, she loves me not_

_I rip each petal brutally from the flower._

_"Stop it! You're killing it!"_

_"It's already dead."_

_Her eyes filled with tears as she sobbed, "I hate you!"_

**_Flashback over._**

That was when I was six and she was five. I used to live in the same neighborhood as she did when we were kids. I even liked her a lot back then. But whenever I approached her, she was always surrounded by people. Because of this, she always divided her attention. The only way I could get her full attention was to annoy her in the worst way possible.

_"Wait your turn onii-san." She scowled, and turned back to the girl. They started to gossip in earnest, and seemed to forget I was there._

I moved away when I was seven, and she was six, a year later.

Partly why I was so anxious to see her when she first arrived, was just to see if she remembered me. So anxious in fact, I waited four hours at the subway station. And she didn't remember the boy who she hated.

_Her brown eyes hardened, and she looked at me with a look I detested. One full of a mixture of fear and hatred._

_And she slapped me._

I don't know if it was the physical or the verbal hurt that hurt more when she had done that. Either way, it the restaurant, a couple of seconds ago, she had the same expression and I flinched, expecting a slap. That never came, like my 'turn'.

When I was twenty-two, and she was twenty-one, I remembered her. I had read in the newspaper an article which featured her.

In fact, if the title of the article hadn't been bolded, size 42 font, and didn't scream, '**Hanzuki O'Rooit is Claimed Top Spelling Bee Champ in the County**,' I probably wouldn't have paid any attention to it.

I liked how she looked in the picture they had. Kind of forgiving.

So I kept tabs on her. And devised a plan. I would frame Hanzuki O'Rooit for a crime so horrible, none of her friends or family would want to be associated with her again. And the police would relocate her. Conveniently to my front door. And she would be alone and approachable. She would recognize me as her one and only friend in this dangerous city. And she would like me.

But here in Ikebukuro, she became as popular as ever. With the help of Simon's shop, she became known to more and more of Ikebukuro. And of course, she had to get to know Shizuo. I hate him.

So here I am. Waiting for love and acceptance, when she decides she can live her own life. With Shizuo, not me. And I become more and more irritable. Shoving more and more, until hopefully, she is pushed right out.


	9. Super Special Thanksgiving Chapter!

**_Super Special November Thanksgiving Chapter! :) (Not related to plot at this time at all)_**

_knock knock_

"Hey! You can put the food over there." I gesture to the table in the center of my apartment.

Yum. I couldn't wait to eat some of Simon's food.

"Everyone's over in the room to the left." I tell Simon.

The room to the left, down the hallway, has been made into a sort of cramped living room. It's cozy though.

_Knock knock_

"Come in! Wow, that cherry pie looks delicious Anri-san!" And it did. It had this delicious sugar looking coat on the crispy, brown crust...

"Everyone's in the room down the hall to the left."

Knock knock

"Hey. Sorry I'm late. Traffic from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro took a while." Shizuo greeted me.

"Hey, it's okay. It's the holidays after all."

He unveiled with exaggerated grandeur... one big bowl of gravy.

He sees my face, "You're face is turning purple. Go ahead, laugh."

I didn't need to be asked twice.

Knock knock

"Akane! It's delightful to know you made it here!" I greet the little girl first.

"I wouldn't have made it here on my own, if Vorona didn't help me." Akane said humbly.

Vorona, the other girl in the doorway, shrugged and said, "I had to help her, she is just a little girl after all."

"Look, I have all of my employees here for the holidays!" Tanaka appears, patting both Shizuo and Vorona on the shoulders. A difficult task to do at once, due to the heights...

"Here! I made this!" Akane shoved a jar in my face.

"It's a jar of cranberry jam." Tanaka explained.

"And Tanaka and I brought smoked ham," Vorona nodded toward the bundle in Tanaka's hands.

"Just set the food on the table then. Everyone's in the-"

"Room to the left, down the hall." Shizuo finished, "You told me this already remember?"

Knock knock

"We're here finally!" Shinra's hair was packed down...helmet hair I suppose.

"And we brought the turkey," Celty texted.

"I could've said that," Shinra rolled his eyes, "You and your technology."

"I happen to love my phone." Her text read.

"That's what I meant." More eye rolling.

She showed him a message I couldn't see.

"Of course not Celty! I love you." Shinra exclaimed indignantly.

"Um..." I didn't want to intrude this moment but it had to be done, "Everyone is in the room on the left."

And that's everyone.

...

"And so, the elf said to himself, 'Christmas is coming!'" Izaya sat Akane on his lap.

"You know, this story sounds like a historical event involving the British..." Shizuo hinted.

"And the elf spread the word throughout elfland. 'Christmas is coming!' But it was too late, the fat guy was already there. 'HOHOHO!' He shouted. And there follows a war with elves vs. the evil man in red, and his army of toys on reindeer." Izaya continues.

"What kind of Christmas story is this for a ten year old?" Vorona leaned on her knees, as she listened.

But Izaya had apparently finished.

"That's it?!" Akane exclaimed, "What a stupid story!"

"Here, let onii-chan tell you a decent story." Shizuo lifted Akane out of Izaya lap.

"What's this one about?" Akane looked extremely bored.

"It's about the time Izaya was killed by Shizuo."

Akane suddenly tuned in.

"Uhuh," She leaned her head against his shoulder, "Go on."

"Isn't this a little violent for that girl?" Kadota remarked.

"Nonsense! Ignore him Shizuo! Continue!" Erika's eyes gleamed.

"I thought this was Thanksgiving, not Christmas..." I mumbled in the background.

...

"And then, it turned out Mikado was the Dollars gang leader, and Anri is controlled by a demon sword named Saika!" Kida smacked his head.

"How's that funny?" Celty typed.

"Well...it's...you see..." Kida faded weakly. He shoved some of the stuffing in his face, "Can't talk now," He said with his mouth full.

"Kida, your jokes...aren't that funny." Mikado scolded his friend sympathetically.

"Yes, Masaomi, please stop. You're making me feel weird." Anri said quietly.

We were finally eating, and everyone was practically drooling at their food.

Shinra stopped eating suddenly, "We forgot to do the traditional thanks of the Thanksgiving!" He said in horror.

"Since when is it a tradition?" Shizuo interrupted, "This is the first time we all did this."

"I'll start," Izaya interrupted.

"Why you?" Shizuo glared.

"Shut up. Anyway, I'm thankful for that everyone is safe and well. I wouldn't like it if someone was hurt...my poor humans."

_For some reason, that didn't seem very heart felt. _

But I guess that's the best we're going to get out of Izaya Orihara.

"I'm thankful for the food!" Akane immediately dug into her gravy soaked turkey, "It's good." She said through a mouthful.

Everyone agreed silently.

"I'm thankful for my loyal hardworking employees." Tanaka said, though to Shizuo he said, "Though they could have more of a social life."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "I'm thankful there hasn't been any violence lately in Shinjuku."

Everyone looked at him weirdly. After all, you wouldn't expect that from the most violent man you've ever met, would you?

Vorona cleared her throat, "I'm thankful that everyone is well."

Izaya protested, "Wasn't that mine?" He teased.

"Shut up." Shizuo glared at Izaya.

They were going to kill each other across the table with the turkey cutting knife if someone didn't do something.

"I'm thankful for my hardworking employee. You've done well for no training." Simon broke the silence.

_No violence, his eyes seemed to bore holes into Shizuo and Izaya._

"I'm thankful for a new year coming soon," Kadota said exhaustedly, "There's been way too much going on in Ikebukuro."

"On the contrary Dotachin, I do believe it's gotten more exciting in Ikebukuro lately," Izaya's eyes gleamed.

"No one wants to hear your voice, flea." Shizuo grumbled.

"I'm thankful for the new installment in the Bleach manga series!" Erika interrupted.

"I'm thankful for the new installment in Naruto. It's way better than Bleach." Walker argued with Erika.

"I'm thankful for the moments when Erika and Walker shut up." Saburo said edgily.

Erika and Walker ignored him.

"I'm thankful for Celty." Shinra hugged her, "I love you Celty. Even though you spend tons of time watching TV."

Celty typed, "It's Yuhei Wajima. He's a pretty good actor."

"That's Shizuo's bro-" Izaya started.

"No one cares," Shizuo finished.

"I'm thankful for no more gangs." Masaomi sounded serious for once.

"I'm not sure there's really going to be no more-"

Shizuo got up and dragged Izaya into the living room.

Erika's eyes got as big as Shizuo's gravy bowl, "What are they doing in there I wonder?" She practically squealed.

There was a clicking sound, and Shizuo came back.

"What'd you do?" I asked...almost afraid to hear.

"I just locked him in that room. Why?"

He became aware that everyone was staring at him.

He shifted uncomfortably, "I wouldn't kill him on a holiday. She here for goodness sake!" He pointed at Akane.

The poor girl's eyes were huge, but she said, "I'm okay if you kill Izaya."

"I'm not. That guy's my job income. I don't care how annoying he is, but if you kill him you kill my money." Namie said irritably.

I wonder what Izaya would think if the only person who verbally stood up for him, was Namie for his money.

"I'm thankful for all the wonderful people I've met in Ikebukuro lately," Mikado awkwardly broke the silence.

"Yes, I'm thankful for that also. But I'm thankful for the peace in Ikebukuro there has been for the holidays." Anri said shyly.

"And I'm thankful for a profitable year." Namie said coldly.

No wonder Izaya and Namie get along. They really don't care for anyone except themselves.

All eyes turned on me.

"I'm thankful for all of the genuine people I've met. You guys really helped me out in tough times. It's really wonderful here in Ikebukuro with everyone." I try to sound confident, but my voice cracks with emotion.

"Well. Now that that is over...LET'S EAT!" Akane burped.

...

Once everyone was gone, and the mess was cleaned up, I had to admit I was relieved.

From the door to the living room a voice resounded.

"Hey Han-Chan. Want to let me out now?"


	10. Captured What is up with Kida Masaomi?

I want to say I wasn't afraid. But that would be lying, and I've made it my goal to stop lying after...it.

The van I assumed I was in, rattled with every bump in the road. I couldn't see anything, because I was blindfolded, but the gag was off. I had just woken up, but I couldn't tell how long I was sleeping.

"Hey you awake now?" A voice poked me. Not to gently I must add.

"You can't pretend to be asleep now. You're breathing faster than you did when you were asleep." Another voice to my left accused.

"Take off the blind." A woman's voice this time, probably the driver, ordered from somewhere up front.

"Are you sure? I mean-"

"Take it off." She said sternly.

Lights flooded my vision, and neon circles filled my view. It was too bright again. Although it was bright, out the window it appeared to be five or six o'clock at night. Only a couple of hours from when I left Simon's. As my eyes adjusted, it became dark again and the circles disappeared.

I could barely make out the faces of my kidnappers. Obviously, the two men who were talking to me before, were the two sitting beside me. The woman was pretty slender, but had a tough look to her. As in '_I ride motorcycles and wear black leather. Don't mess with me because I can snap you in half with my pinkies.'_

I've never wished more that Erika would show up, and be like '_You were dreaming. Have you been watching too many animes?' _and then the van would slowly melt into Saburo's, and the two men beside me would be Erika and Walker. But it never happened.

"Do you know why you're here?" the woman looked as me through the car's mirror.

I kept silent.

"Answer her!" the man to my left slapped me.

"No." I told the woman.

"She doesn't know..." The woman laughed.

All of them had yellow on them somewhere. Mostly bandanas.

"How much do you know about Kida Masaomi?" the man to my right asked.

"Not much apparently." the man to my left laughed.

What were they getting at? Masaomi was just a normal Raira Academy student wasn't he? Crude yes, but he was just a normal guy wasn't he?

"We're here." The woman stopped the car, "Blindfold and gag her again."

"But there might be a fight again." both the men protested.

"If she knows what's good for her she'll comply." And the woman got out and walked away.

"You heard the lady." The man on the right said, and my senses were cut off again.

...

"We have her, boss." The woman laughed, "She was a fighter, but she was too stupid in the end."

"Leave us alone then."

Was that Kida Masaomi's voice I recognized?

"Is that a really good idea boss?" One of the guys asked.

"Do it!" Masaomi said in a tone so harsh, I even cringed.

There was a shuffling sound, and a sudden air current as if a door was being opened and closed.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Kida removed the blindfold and the gag.

I cleared my throat, "No." I lied.

"Good," he leaned back on his feet as he was kneeling, and smiled, "I hoped you wouldn't get the wrong impression?"

_No not at all. What wrong impression do you mean? SARCASM._

"I looked you up on the internet, and decided I wanted you to be in my gang." Masaomi was straight-forward.

"Why?"

He laughed, "Please, don't tell me like you don't understand. I'm obviously talking about the crime you had with your previous gang."

I didn't really want to tell him that I was framed, and I actually didn't commit that crime.

"So here." He hands out to me a yellow scarf, "That is if you want it."

"Boss!" A voice is cut off outside. It sounds urgent.

The doors of the warehouse, in which we are in, are slammed open.

"We're going Hanzuki, now." Izaya ordered.

Kida Masaomi and I stare with our mouths wide open at him. Izaya walks over and pulls me roughly to my feet. And starts dragging me as equally roughly, toward the doors.

"Ow! Stop it! You're hurting me!" I protest.

"You don't have to go and listen to him." Kida says.

But he runs to me, gives me the scarf, and darts away before Izaya could say anything.

"Bye! See you later!" Kida waves a surprisingly friendly goodbye for the situation.

And the doors of the warehouse slam after us.

...

After a couple of hours of silent walking, I rip my hand away from his death grip finally. He acts with a startled flinch.

"How did you know where I was?" I ask him, rubbing my numb wrist.

"I saw you get kidnapped." He said simply.

_And you couldn't have just stopped me from being kidnapped in the first place?_

He swings me suddenly up into his arms, bridal style.

"Oh!" I gasp in surprise.

"You should get some sleep. Lean your head against my shoulder." Izaya orders.

I open my mouth to argue, but remembered it was useless to argue with Izaya.

_Why was he acting so nice again?_

And before I know it, the world disappears under my eyelids.


	11. MAH FIRST KISS WENT A LITTLE LIKE THIS-

**WARNING: There are _NO_ LEMONS in this chapter. So don't expect any.**

...

"Are you awake now?" The voice I've heard so many times in the last couple of weeks asks.

I open my eyes, and see Izaya standing over me. _Standing over me? While I was sleeping?! _Took me a second to remember last night.

He must've taken me to his house, and let me sleep on his couch. Which was nice, but I still wished he could've told me this last night.

Like, '_Hey when you wake up, you'll be at my place okay? I don't want to leave you alone in your apartment after what happened today."_Something along those lines.

I get off the couch, and turn to face him.

"Yeah, I'm awake." I say stiffly.

I have to keep in mind, that this was the guy who hated me beyond all that was comprehensible.

He walked forward, almost determinedly. And I took a step back for every step he took. I didn't like that look he had on his face. Kind of one that some criminal has before they kill you...you know, one of determination, grief, despair, horror or shame, anger (_at what? Me again?!)_, and worst of all...this emotion that was indescribable.

And we kept going like that, until I hit a wall. Literally.

And he kept walking until he reached me, and put both arms on the walls beside me. _Crap...can't go anywhere now._

I hate being put in awkward circumstances like this. It was almost as awkward as when my side of the court, the one that held my family and supported me, heard the judge declare me guilty...

"Hanzuki. I have to apologize. I was acting like a jerk." His face was incredibly, uncomfortably close to mine.

No doubt he could probably feel the heat waves rolling off my cheeks, which were probably several shades darker than fatty tuna now. I wasn't actually lying when I said I was afraid of guys...and my symptoms were: a red face, inhaling like I was choking, sounding like I was choking, sweating buckets...especially from my hands, and the inability to carry a decent conversation.

Right now, I was suffering badly from all symptoms..."Don't you always?"

He laughed at that, "Han-Chan, you're turning completely red! I don't even know if that's actually a Crayola color yet...but that's one interesting shade of red you have there."

And in the next moment, several things happened at once.

One, he kissed me.

Two, I invented a new shade of red. Somewhere between maroon and violet-raspberry, I think.

Three, I completely had waves of sweat coming off of me.

And last, and the worst of all, the door opened to his apartment. And at the door, I heard a sound similar to clicking high heels make on the floor.

"Hmm...Another rape victim I see. I should've knocked, I suppose." A young woman's voice echoed across the room.

...

"Namie." Izaya tossed his head over his shoulder, "Meet Hanzuki."

She looked at me with almost pitying eyes, "Do you know what you're getting into, kid?"

She called me a 'kid'. Aren't we about the same ages though?

"And if you keep him out of my sight, I guess we're on good terms for now, Hanzuki. Got it?" Namie continued.

"Come on, Han-Chan." Izaya started off toward a room farther to the right.

"You have fun." Namie turned her back on us, her tone a uninterested monotone.

Izaya's room was actually not as monochromatic as you would think. Sunlight poured in through huge glass windows, the bed's spread was a nice brown, cocoa color, and there was a white lap top resting on it, opened. I stood, awkwardly, in the doorway. I, at least, expected almost total darkness, and just black covered bed in the center.

"Don't just stand there. Sit with me! I don't bite... unless you're still afraid of boys?" He teased, opening the laptop.

I sat down next to him, and peered at the LCD screen. It was almost impossible to see because of all the sun glare.

"What are you doing?" I asked, because I couldn't see.

He smiled, "Remember the time when we were little and I kept bugging you?"

What was he talking about? I didn't know him when we were little...

"Onii-chan ring a bell?" He pressed further.

I shook my head, " I didn't know you until a couple weeks ago remember?"

He almost looked disappointed. He pulled up a screen.

"This is you, and this is me." Izaya insisted, showing me the screen.

It was a yearbook, class pictures, with one fat-cheeked Izaya Orihara, and a girl with the name 'Hanzuki'...

I laughed.

"The Kanji isn't right. You read it as 'O'Rooit' when that spells," I pointed, 'O'Toori.'

He peered at the screen. And blinked. Twice. And then rubbed his eyes. And looked again. And kept looking-

"But how many Hanzuki's in one small town could there have been?" He protested.

"That's where you're wrong again... The Kanji spells 'Hana ZouKee'" I giggled, "Trick of the eye."

He closes the laptop quickly, and hops off the bed.

"Well this was fun, but I got to go now!" His laugh was awkwardly fake.

He was going to do this to me again?!

A decision was going to have to be made. And it only took me a second to make mine.

"Ouch. That hurts, Han-Chan." Izaya winced.

The door began to open...

"Congratulations." Namie said flatly, in a _I don't get paid enough_ voice, as she walks in on us hugging...(more like I'm hugging while he just stands there. THE FEELS!) with a tray of tea and cookies.

...

He stayed. And I was glad.

Namie set down the tray on the bed, and left.

I was glad for that too.

And he laughed.

"So I was wrong this whole time on who you were?" Izaya smiled to himself.

"Well you had my name right at least. You just didn't remember correctly...and you got the wrong girl." And this made me sad, for a moment.

Until, he laughed again.

"Aren't you mad at all? I ruined your life on accident because I thought you were someone else!"

"No. Because it was an accident." I shook my head.

He gave me a long look.

"You're different from other humans, you know that?" He sat on the bed again, and poured himself a cup.

He lifted the cup to his face, and paused, "I love humans. Always evolving!" He laughed again.

Three times that made it.

I leaned over to take a cookie. It was a soft baked homemade one, a chocolate fudge and toffee one. It would get stuck in my teeth until I got home and brushed them, I knew. And I still took a bite. It was good.

Izaya observed me casually, over his cup of tea, "You like sweets don't you Han-Chan?"

"What brought up that idea?!" I exclaim, just a little bit, flustered.

He smiled, "When Namie was unpacking your stuff, she noticed that you had quite a store of... chocolate."

I blushed, I had brought exactly 15.758 pounds of chocolate over... since I wasn't sure if the stores of Ikebukuro would have my favorite candies... and the bag that carried it all, was heavier than all my others.

He stared even more intensely, "There's a chocolate store downtown we should visit, if you're so interested."

Now I just sound fat, don't I?

Izaya smirked, "You're breath is terrible."

_Who says that to someone they kissed ten minutes ago?_

#MostAwkwardRandomConvosEver

"Hey, I'm going to take my lunch break, okay?" Namie poked her head through the door.

Didn't she just arrive five minutes ago? I brought this up.

She laughed, "But I can't stand to be around him, so I end up trying to spend as less time as possible in this place."

That's a good reason...

"Bye Namie!" Izaya waved like a little kid, "Don't buy me anything. Han-Chan and I are going out for lunch."

Since when?

My expression must've shown what I was thinking, and Namie laughed even harder. You could still hear her laughing as she went into the hallway outside the apartment, and could still even when she got to the parking lot.

What's so funny about this?


	12. So Much Fanservice

"Here, eat this." He held up something resembling a cockroach encased in green goo. "Ew. No way." I turn away, and examine a bag of caramel chocolates' caleries per serving.

"Alright." He turns to the cashier, "I'll take this."

I spin around, "I told you I'm not eating that crap! Why'd you buy it?! That's just-"

And he shoved the stupid thing into my mouth right then. And when I tried to take it out, he grabbed both my hands. And the thing was, the cashier didn't do anything.

Five irritating seconds later, Izaya smirks and let's go of my hands. "So how was it?" He asked, looking like the Cheshire Cat...

I had to admit, it really wasn't bad. The cockroach was actually dark chocolate and the goo was sour apple flavor. It had to be one of the best candies I've ever tasted. Not that I would admit that...

"It was OK." I tried to frown, but it was nearly impossible.

And he saw right through me.

Turning to the cashier, Izaya says, "I'll take five please."

...

"Shizuo!" I wave at the blonde bartender in the distance.

He walks over, "Aren't you supposed to be at Simon's?"

Izaya chuckles, "You're skipping work? Han-Chan!" He teases.

Shizuo glares at him, "What are you doing here?"

And as if I didn't hear him, Shizuo turned to me, "What is he doing here?"

"Shizuo!" A blonde female my age, or a year older...maybe? runs up to Shizuo, "You shouldn't run of like that when Tanaka's in a deal."

"Oh. Hello." She notices Izaya and I, "Shizuo, who are your friends?"

"Vorona, this is Hanzuki O'Rooit. She's new to town." Shizuo introduces, "Vorona is a co-worker of mine for Tanaka." He explains.

So she must be bodyguard. Vorona is dressed in a motorcycle suit, and which is really tight to her skin...

...Which make me wonder if Shizuo...

COUPLE SHIPPING!

"A pleasure to meet you." Mrs. Heiwajima- I mean, Vorona, was saying cordially, "And the other?"

Shizuo sighs exasperated, "The other is just there."

'The Other' smirks, "I'm Izaya Orihara. Long time friend of Shizuo's... ever since Raira Academy." He drags out 'long'.

"NO YOU ARE NOT MY FRI-" Shizuo protests, but is interrupted.

"I had to finish my deal unprotected, thanks to you two. I could've died!" Tanaka? teases Vorona and Shizuo as he comes up.

Tanaka has brown hair and has a suit on.

_Isn't he warm? It's like, 96 degrees out. WHAT IS WITH GUYS IN IKEBUKURO?!_

"This is Tanaka my boss. Tanaka, meet my friend Hanzuki, she's new to town."

Not really anymore. I've been here almost a month.

"Very nice to see Shizuo is hanging out with a girl for once." Tanaka smiles.

Vorona bumps Tanaka teasingly, "What? Am I just a female ape around here?"

Which makes me wonder, if Shizuo can throw vending machines, how strong is Vorona?

In short, I think Tanaka must have kick-butt guards.

...

"How long do you have left of your lunch break?" I ask Shizuo.

"About an hour."

He doesn't even check his watch or phone. He's too busy glaring at Izaya.

"I'll go change. Do you guys mind making lunch while I do that? I would do it myself but I don't want to take up Shizuo's lunch break."

Locking my door, I wonder if letting those two make lunch was the best idea ever...

My tank top stinks. I throw it into my hamper. And much to my exasperation, it misses completely.

My bed feels so soft right now, I could just...

...

"Wakey wakey, ramen noodles and-oh you're up. Finally." Izaya smirks, and hops off the bed.

A scarlet flush begins to rise into my cheeks. I can feel it.

"You perv! Get out of my room!" Faltered out of my mouth, not as strong sounding as I would have liked.

He rolls his eyes, "Relax, you still are 3/4 dressed."

Izaya starts to leave, "When you didn't come out for half an hour, what else were we supposed to do?"

"Well you could have knocked-"

"And Han-Chan, you're in your twenties now. You know you can stop wearing training bras." And with that comment he left.

"IT'S A SPORTS BRA!" I shout at the closed door.

...

"Sorry about that Shizuo." I slide into the couch in the living room, with a bowl of extra cheddar ramen noodles.

"It's okay. You probably needed it."

Izaya snickered.

"Shut up." Shizuo and I said at the same time.

...

"Vorona is hot." I awkwardly break the silence.

"What?" Shizuo pauses in mid mouthful.

"Don't tell me you don't notice!"

Both Izaya and Shizuo are looking at me now.

"Bro." I add awkwardly.

"Are you trying to be a guy friend or something...?"

If this story was an anime, Shizuo would be one of those chibis with the sweatsdrops. Izaya looks like he swallowed a lemon.

"Well, um yeah, she's cool." Shizuo cleared his throat.

If this was Ouran Highschool Host Club, Shizuo would probably be Haruhi, Izaya one of the twins, and I'd probably be Tamaki Suou right now. There would be one of those banners at the bottom with 'It just got awkward' in the Japanese kanji written on it. That is if you're watching it in sub...

Most awkward situation I've ever put myself into... But I had to ship Shizuo with someone! God, I'm really turning into Erika aren't I?

Thankfully, Shizuo's phone beeped.

"I got to go." Shizuo didn't even look at his phone. "See you."

"Bye bye Shizzy-Chan." Izaya replies cheerfully.

"Shut up flea." And he leaves.

"And so the plot thickens." Izaya murmurs, "Way to go with making Shizuo leave, Hanzuki. Though, I do have to admit, I think that was a pretty awkward way that you did it."

"Did I just mess up badly with Shizuo?" I feel tears well up.

Shizuo is one of my first and closest friends here. Or was?

"Well, it depends on how you look at it." Izaya scoots closer, "I think you weirded him out a lot. But I-"

You think?

"-Think you made it clear enough to him where you guys stand." He finishes.

"Where we stand?"

"You know, relationship wise," Izaya grins, "I believe in turn he'll accept the fact you want to be friends-"

"WHAT?"

Shizuo wanted to be more than friends?!

...

"Shizuo wait!" I pant.

It took me ten minutes, thirty two blocks, and for dead ends to find him.

When Izaya presented his theory, I needed to find Shizuo. So, immediately I had left the house and started to run. For all I knew, Izaya was still eating ramen on my couch.

"Hanzuki? What are you doing here?!" Shizuo hissed, "Go away, you're not safe here."

We were outside a bar, the kind criminals and drug dealers go to.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that...earlier. I didn't notice your feelings, and I want to tell you-"

"What feelings?" Shizuo interjected.

"Yeah, you know how I made you uncomfortable when I told you that you would be a good match for Vorona. I didn't know you secretly had like, love feelings for me..." I ramble on.

"Love feelings?" Shizuo echoed, "Who told you that?"

"Um...Izaya..." I feel myself blush at how stupidly I had believed him.

"And you honestly think a flea would know about my love life?" Shizuo growled.

"Well, I-"

"Shizuo! It's getting intense in here. We might need your help!" Vorona's voice resounded from inside.

"Look, let's make this clear. I don't want to break any feelings, but I am not in love with you." Shizuo said in a gentle voice, "I don't mix well with women...too fragile."

And with that, he ran into the bar.

There were five seconds of silence, and then all chaos broke loose.


	13. Baseball Bats and Chairs

First thing is first. Since I don't want a huge cliffhanger at the end, I want to say this. (Because cliffhangers are huge clichés in manga, anime, and fanfics...)

Baseball bats hurt. A lot.

...

Inside the building, it's complete destruction.

"Take Tanaka!" Shizuo is yelling at the blonde woman.

Vorona gives a slight nod, and rushes out with her employer.

People are fighting everywhere, and Shizuo is bleeding.

I knew Shizuo was strong, but I never registered exactly how strong and scary he was.

Men slam into walls as Shizuo throws a barstool away.

"Shizuo stop!" I shout, but my words are whisked away.

Nevertheless, he swings his head in my direction.

"Hanzuki? What are you doing here?!" His eyes widen.

A man tries to come up behind him...

"Get out of here now! You shouldn't be here!"

The man gets ready his chair to slam into Shizuo's head...

And I hear a sound behind me, like footsteps. A baseball bat slams onto my skull at the same time the man raises the chair.

...

My head hurts. And there is only darkness.

There's a light. I can see it, and hands extending, I try to-

...

**WARNING:**

**There is one word that is four letters long, and starts with an H in this chapter. So, yeah. Little children are warned. (though I can't understand why little children would be reading this... unless I'm just a really bad writer...) PLUS there's no lemons in this chapter. I just realized that the chapter title might be taken the wrong way if you have a really dirty mind...**

"She's moving."

I groan, "Shut up. You're too loud."

My head hurts and everything echoes in my eardrums.

Izaya grins, "Will do, my human."

"I'm not yours." I roll over on the couch, burying my face in a pillow. "Shut up."

He's leaning over me; standing.

"Where are we?" I murmur.

"What?" He leans even closer.

"I said, 'where are we', you idiot!" I throw the pillow at him.

"According to my IQ, it is incorrect to be called an idiot. I was the valedictorian of my graduating high school class." He catches the pillow easily.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

"You should sleep." Shizuo appears.

"Should you really be standing up right now? You got hit in the head; and could die from a brain injury." Izaya questions, "But whatever; if you die, the world will be a better place."

"Thanks. Glad to know someone cares." Shizuo says sarcastically. He turns to me, "Are you stupid?"

"I-"

"I told you! And you ignored me. Now look where it got you!" Shizuo fumed.

Izaya throws the pillow at him. "Release all the energy." he says mockingly.

"I'm sorry Shizuo. I wanted to help-"

"Help!? You could've help by leaving! None of this would've-" Shizuo stops and releases a deep breath. "I'm sorry. It's just that, I was worried about your safety. Don't do anything like that again." He said gentler.

"Okay. I'm sorry." I stand up too quickly.

The floor lurches under my feet.

Shizuo pushes me back down.

"You should really get some sleep." Shizuo orders.

"Right Mr. Doctor." Izaya settles down into a chair, picking up a cup of ramen.

_Isn't that the same one I saw him eating last in my apartment?_

Shizuo glares at him, "Don't order me around, flea."

"Oh so scary." Izaya leans forward, and wiggles his fingers, "Big, bad Shizuo threatening me. Help Hanzuki!"

"Don't order me around, got it?! I can do whatever the h*** I want!" Shizuo turns around, and storms to the outside porch of the apartment.

Through the glass doors, you can see him pulling out a cigarette.

"There he goes, poisoning his lungs. I wouldn't be surprised if he dies one of these days." Izaya grins, "What a day that'll be."

...

**Author Hanzuki: Warning, Izaya gets really pervy in this chapter. Also some words are blanked out because of this website's policies.**

I feel a sharp poking in my side.

"Ow. Stop it." I don't even open my eyes.

When I do, I start.

"Hm. Did I scare you?" Izaya's face is close to mine.

As in, I could count how many eyelashes you have if I wanted to, close.

"You smell like ramen." My stomach growls painfully, "What time is it?"

"Eight forty two."

"P.M.?"

"Yep. Shizuo is somewhere sleeping."

"You never told me where we are. And you woke me up for the second time today! You jerk!" I squirm.

He chuckles, "So I've been told. Though I don't understand it. I love my humans, so shouldn't they love me to?" He continues, standing up and out of my space.

I snort, "'Your Humans' don't like being called that."

"But what else do I them then?" And as if to make me uncomfortable even more, he lifts up my head, sits down, and puts my head into his lap.

I blush brightly. Good thing the lights aren't on. But I feel like I'm blushing so hard, you could see it anyway.

"It's cute when you blush." Izaya observed.

Crap.

"You turn this shade of red, I don't even think Crayola has invented yet." He continues.

"Shut up. It's just my blood cells going into overtime." Worst comeback ever.

"You're telling me to shut up more often. Is it because you don't like that I am saying something true?" Izaya grins, "I don't appreciate being told 'shut up'. It's not very nice Han-Chan."

What does he know about being nice?

And he leans down to-

What?!

"Oh no?! You're not taking my second kiss too!" I push him off.

"'Your second kiss'?" Izaya quoted smirking, "So did I take your first?"

Well... obviously. You kissed me that one time remember?

"Did you enjoy it?" He whispered in my ear.

Which of course, made me turn a more interesting shade of red. Probably what the comment was designed to do anyways.

The lights turn on suddenly.

"Hey you two. Some people actually sit on that couch, so before you guys start to make out, think about them." Shizuo stood in the doorway to the room, "And, flea, side note. Next time, make sure that when you want to ra** someone that you're quieter about it."

...

Awkward.

First word that comes to mind.

Shizuo sits between Izaya and me on the other couch, because he says, 'I can no longer sit on that couch without an unpleasant image.' Plus, he says it's for my safety he sits there.

"There have been cases when rapi**s strike twice." Is what he justified as an explanation.

"So are you two dating now?" Shizuo asks.

**-COFFEE BREAK-**

**The continuation of Izaya's perviness...?**

**COFFEE BREAK OVER**

"No."

"Yes."

"If you hurt her, r*** her, abuse her, kill her, dump her, or get her pregnant before marrying, I will hunt you down and personally kill you." Shizuo continues.

Izaya lifts an eyebrow, "Get her pregnant before marrying? So I just can't get her pregnant?"

"Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew!" I shake my head.

I've only had my first kiss a couple of weeks ago?! And he's talking about... THAT?!

"What? You act as if you hadn't been in Health class in ninth grade, Han-Chan." Izaya smirks.

"You're such a PE**!" I clamp my hands over my ears.

"I'm only a year or two older than you. My, my, you're innocent aren't you?" Izaya smirked even wider.

"He's something though." Shizuo scoffed.

...

"We're home!" A noise of keys falling arises from the doorway. It's a male voice.

"Shinra. Have a nice night? You stayed out long enough." Izaya commented.

Shinra was a flustered, slender man in lab coat with spiky brown hair and black glasses. A woman, slender in a black motorcycle suit similar to Vorona's, comes in. She wore a cat-like helmet so you couldn't see her face.

She nudged Shinra and typed something into her phone.

What's so secretive we can't see it?

"Hanzuki, this is Shinra and his...?" Shizuo looked at Shinra.

"Um...we're engaged now." Shinra blushed light pink.

"Fiancé, and my friend Celty Sturlson. Shinra is an underground doctor, so we immediately had brought you to him." Shizuo resumed.

"You'll have to excuse Celty. She can't speak, so she communicates via text messages." Shinra explained further.

Oh. Now I feel bad.

"It's nice to meet you!" I grin.

"Nice to meet you Hanzuki, also." Celty typed.

She types so formally. Does she do that all the time?

"Thank you also for taking care of me." I smile, "I'm feeling much better now."


	14. Yellow Presents

**Author Hanzuki: I'm wondering if you guys like shorter chapters or longer ones...so if you guys want to comment, go ahead. Otherwise, I'm just going to experiment... I JUST FOUND OUT HOW TO DO THAT! SEE BELOW... YOU KNOW THAT GRAY LINE?! noobie moment...**

* * *

"Okay, I'll give Celty the cue to bring you in. Don't come in before then. Got it?" Shizuo briefed the plan.

"Right," I nod.

"Got it." Celty typed.

And so we waited.

"Okay, now!" We heard Shizuo's voice from inside the bar.

Celty nods for me to go in first.

It's the day after meeting Shinra and Celty, and we're back at the bar; AKA scene of the crime.

"Now apologize. You hit this lady over the head with a bat. That could f****** kill somebody!" Shizuo had the man who hit me, in a death grip, and held him three feet off the ground. "So should we kill you? After all, you and your buddies could've killed us. It's only fair, right? RIGHT?!"

Before Shizuo could slam the man's head into the floor and break the hard wood, the man squirms.

"Alright! I'll apologize to the chick! Is she like a girlfriend or something?!" The man looks really uncomfortable...

"Say it. She's right there." Shizuo's voice is deadly calm, and he cracks his neck.

_Shizuo is really scary._

You can see the man visibly sweating; he glances at me.

"She's cute." He clears his throat, clearly stalling for time.

Is it really that hard to apologize if it means saving your life from a psycho Chuck Norris? No offense to Shizuo... it's just that he scares me sometimes.

Shizuo looks like he's about to snap.

"Alright! I'm sorry." The man holds up his hands in surrender.

Shizuo lets him drop... from a height of now about six feet... or as far as Shizuo's height plus his arms allowed... which six feet might be smaller than...

The man hit with a sickening crunch.

He yells out, "My ankle!"

He must've fell weirdly, because his ankle is twisted...

"Serves you right." Shizuo sticks his hands in his pockets and walks out, "You coming?" He looks back.

"Yeah." I answer for both of us.

...

We're on our way to Simon's for lunch (Which I'm not excited about because of seeing my ex-boss) when we see Masaomi.

"Kida!" I wave and run over, "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while."

I haven't seen you since you kidnapped me, I silently add.

"Good," He pauses and looks around for someone, "Mikado! Anri! Where did you guys go?"

"I'm sorry! It's my fault... I saw a copy of the manga I want at a store, and I guess Anri went with me." Mikado ran up out of nowhere.

"Oh and what kind was it?" Kida leaned forward (not unlike Izaya now that I think about it...), "Was it a doujinshi?" He teased his friend.

"No!" Mikado was flustered.

"Was it, Anri?" Kida turns to a shy looking girl I've never seen before.

The girl wears a female Raira Academy uniform, glasses, and has short, black hair with bangs.

"N-no." she blushes.

"She's smiling! She must be lying!" Kida laughs, and then acts serious, "Anri, this Hanzuki O'Rooit, my friend. Hanzuki, this is Anri Sonohara, a friend from school."

"Nice to meet you." Anri bows.

How terribly formal. Is every female this formal?

...Besides Namie and Vorona I mean...?

"Ah! I'm sorry I didn't notice you there, Hanzuki-san!" Mikado becomes even more flustered and bows also.

Are Ikebukuroans (?) this formal?

...Besides the ones I've already met?

Whatever.

"Oh Hanzuki; I was meaning to catch you sometime." Kida scratches his head, "Are you going to my _party_ at _six on Friday?_ It's at the _place we met last time."_

I might be just reading too much into what he's saying, but is he asking me if I'm coming to a gang meeting on Friday at the warehouse?

"Party?" I stall, and play dumb.

"I sent you a text message about it." Masaomi looked genuinely confused.

To the cell phone I have buried under seventeen layers of socks? Hmm, I wonder why I haven't gotten it?

(Sarcasm noted?)

"I think I'll be able to come."

I really don't want to.

Note to self: Locate phone when I get home.

"Great! Remember to bring your yellow present for Sakura!" Kida grins.

Oh. Of course, Sakura. Cover up for yellow present... AKA... well it's pretty obvious so you can guess for yourself.

"Okay! See you then. I'd better go catch back up with my friends now," (Even though they're right there) "Bye!"

"Bye Hanzuki san!" Mikado waved.

"Later." Kida turned and looked over his shoulder, "It's going to be a fun night on Friday."

"Nice to meet you!" Anri said, in a soft tone.

...

We're still on our way to go to Simon's. I'm nervous...

When we arrive, I see Simon.

My hands get sweatier.

The meal goes fine and Celty offers to pay.

"That's okay. I got it." Shizuo pulls out his wallet.

I leave while they argue which is kind of awkward because Shizuo would say something, and then wait for Celty to type in a reply.

"Simon." I hesitate.

"Long time! No see!" Simon grins.

"I was wondering if I could work here... again?"

"Of course!" Simon looked like I hadn't lost it in the first place.

"Thanks!" I hug him.


	15. A Chapter That Doesn't Make Sense

**Author Hanzuki: I'm sorry about the huMANGAus comment I left in the review section... (see what I did there? huMANGAus? Thanks, I got it off a youtube vid)**

* * *

FRIDAY- (Approximately, 5:43 P.M.)

The door closes softly behind me. I slump into one of the beanbags in the living room.

Yes, I have beanbags for furniture. I'm chintzy remember? (Maybe I didn't go into detail about that... sudden character development!)

I'm still wondering if I should go to the meeting. I really don't want to, but Kida is my friend. But, is that really the crowd I want to hang out with?

Almost right away, the door bell rings, and the door is opened.

"You shouldn't leave the door unlocked, Han-Chan." Izaya let himself in.

I let my breath out softly between my teeth, "What the heck do you think you're doing? You can't just barge into people's houses!"

"Hmm. Last time I checked, this was an apartment. There's a huge difference between a house and an apartment." He grinned and reached into one of my cupboards in the kitchen.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"I'm thirsty." He paused and looked at me with what he must think as an innocent look, but actually looked like _oh-I'm-sorry-how-was-I-suppose-to-know-that-the-waffle-in-the-refridgerator-was-yours-even-though-it-had-your-name-on-it,-but-I-didn't-think-it-was-yours-so-I-ate-it_ mixed with a look of _it-was-good,-thanks-for-the-food!_

Maybe I just have an overactive imagination.

"That's not the glass cupboa-" I stop as he pulls out, what else? a glass.

"Han-Chan," He looked at me, with an expression of, _You're-so-stupid-for-not-labeling-your-food-yours,-because-if-you-did-none-of-this-would've-happened., _"So, what you're telling me is that I know your apartment better than you do? That's sad."

"Whatever! I haven't been here often!" I return his gaze in what I hope looked like, _well,-your-face-is-sad!_

WORST SILENT COMEBACK OF THE YEAR.

Have you ever have that moment where all you do is stare at each other, but it doesn't seem really awkward until someone blinks?

No? Just me?

I blinked, "What are you here for anyway?"

It's not for water, I can tell you that.

"We're going out. Didn't I text you that?"

Again, to the phone buried under socks and who knows what.

"Um. I have somewhere to be."

He raises his eyebrows, "Sakura's party?"

How does he know about an imaginative yellow party that doesn't even exist?

I really doubt that it's Shizuo who told him that.

"Well, I-"

"Come on, you don't even really want to go, do you?" He resumed his piercing gaze.

"Don't talk to me like you're bloody Doctor Phil!"

"Bloody? Are you British now?"

"No... I just-"

"Don't tell me you're one of those fangirls of that British band...?" He snapped his fingers, thinking. "Oh yes! Over in the west, don't they call it 'One Dimension?"

WE INTURRUPT THIS STORY WITH A HUGE, RARE LAUGH ATTACK FROM THE FEMALE PROTAGNIST IN THIS STORY. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE.

"No, I'm not." I wipe my eyes, "But seriously? One Dimension?!"

Note to self: Izaya may be smart, but is incredibly stupid when it comes to pop culture.

"That made you laugh?" Izaya lifts his eyebrows.

"It did. Now shut up; there are millions of your fans out there who want to read this scene seriously. Heh, one dimension..."

Okay, so that last line didn't actually happen.

"Well, yeah. See this band is actually called... whatever. What did you want again?"

"We're going out." He said patiently.

"But I can't." I say as patiently.

"But you will." He said patiently.

"But I don't want to." I look at him.

He looks back.

He grabs my arm, "Come on. Do I have to dress you myself?"

"WHAT? I said I didn't want to go! Abuse! Someone call the police!" I fidget.

He throws me into the room, "Come on Han-Chan."

"Why do I have to dress up? You're not."

"You don't care about how I look. On the other hand, I appreciate how you would look if you were to dress up." He starts walking out.

"Hey! Where are we going? I kind of need that to know what to wear!"

"Oh! So you are coming out with me?"

"What! You little weasel-"

"Last time I checked, I did not have the features of a rodent."

"Answer the stupid question please."

"Getting anxious aren't we?"

"Izaya-"

"We're going to a fancy place. Happy?"

"That really doesn't answer my question."

"Come on Han-Chan! You take forever to dress. Shall I just speed up the process by helping you?" He turns around and pulls out his switchblade.

"Don't you dare come near me with that thing!"

"Oh, this?" He has a smile, a _oh,-was-that-horrible-screeching-noise-the-sound-of-your-cat-as-I-ran-it-over-with-my-car?_

"I'M GETTING DRESSED BY MYSELF THANK YOU VERY MUCH IZAYA BUT GET OUT!" I crawl onto my bed.

"Han-Chan, do you have a fear of knives?" He comes closer.

"I swear, if you get closer to me by an inch or a single centimeter, I will kick you-"

He darts barely closer.

"Izaya-"

"Han-Chan, you said a centimeter. That was a millimeter, if I counted correctly."

**I'm sorry, but I need to do something now! Will write new chapter soon! (W.S.L.) (aka, write soon later)**


	16. Chocolate Milkshakes

**Author Hanzuki: if you haven't noticed, I've changed the rating to mature, just because it's going to get a little violent soon and it's getting suggestive...**

...

"There. Is this good enough?" I walk out for the third time out of my room.

In the last twenty minutes, I have changed three times because apparently my clothes weren't fancy enough... or they were just ugly. To him anyway.

"Sweatpants and an Underarmor sweatshirt are fancy!" I had protested the first time.

"Uggs, leggings, and a sweater are fancy!" I had said the second time.

"Doc Martens?" Izaya looks at me, "You're not going to kill somebody or go to the army tonight, are you?"

I look sheepishly at my black combat boots with the gold studs on the toes, "Doc Martens are classic!" I protest for the third time.

"William Shakespeare mayest have a row with thou." He turns back to the T.V.

"Code Geass?" I glance at the screen.

"Why are you still standing here? Shouldn't you be dressing?" Izaya smirks, "Or do you need my help?"

"No, you need help. You little psycho-" I mutter under my breath.

"Hmm? What's that Han-Chan? You require my assistance?" He swings himself over the back of the couch.

"No!"

"Then, what were you saying? Are you embarrassed Han-Chan?" He begins to tow me to my room, "You don't need to be embarrassed if you need help. It's only right for all humans to be imperfect at times." He looks back at me, his face grinning wildly, "The folly of mankind."

You're enjoying this aren't you? I want to ask him.

Of course, that question would be highly redundant, and there's a high chance he would tell me so.

"Now, there was a certain dress around here that I thought would be right..." Izaya opened a drawer.

The one filled with socks.

"Han-Chan, are your socks _singing What Does The Fox Say?_" Izaya tilted his head, looking incredulous.

"Well. Whatever, what did you want me to wear?" I tap my foot impatiently.

Izaya sticks his hand in, "Hello?"

"Hey! That's my phone!" I try to grab it away from him.

"Yeah, this is Hanzuki's phone, leave a message after the beep." He presses the end button.

"Why'd you do that!?" I yell at him.

He throws the phone at me, "Masaomi called. He said hi."

"'Hi' my butt, what did he say?"

"He said that he wants you to wear this and go out with Izaya." He pulls out the most hideous thing I own.

It's a dress that my mom wanted me to wear for highschool prom, but is between a wedding and a special party dress. In short, it's not very dressy, but is very... ehem, it's very showy, to say the least.

In other words, if you still don't get it, it's tight. As in close fitting by the way, not as in cool.

"What's that face for? Besides, I happen to like this color." He smiles.

"That's a shade. Black is a shade."

"Hmm, I never did like Art class. A color being a shade, but a shade not being a color. Every color and shade is equal before god, isn't it? Like humans." He chuckled to himself.

Not this again?

He throws the dress at me, "I'll leave you to it. Unless, you want me to stay?"

"No and no. Do you really think a dress that fit me tightly like, four years ago, will fit me now?" I protest.

"You'll make it work, won't you? After all, I might be so stubborn I won't let you leave in anything that's not that dress."

Is that a threat?

...

"I'm so glad you decided that the dress could work for you. You look very decent, for a human." He talks, as we walk down the street that has Russian Sushi on the corner.

As expected, Simon is there, handing out coupons.

When I think of this, I just think of him saying, "Here, take this coupon and throw it away. Have a nice day!"

That's what I do with handouts, at least.

"privEt Привет! izvinite! Извините!" Izaya says as he passes by.

(In Russian to English that means, Hi! Excuse me (to pass by)!)

"Ey, drug! Эй, друг\ Эй, приятель." Simon says back.

(Again, Hi friend!")

"kak dela?" Simon asks.

(How are you?)

"harashO/ tAk sibe." Izaya says, and waves goodbye, "pakA/ da svidAn'ya!"

(Good/so-so, goodbye)

"da vstrEchi/ da svidAn'ya!" Simon replies.

(See you later!)

What? Am I the stupid one here?

"What kind of gibberish was that?" I ask him as we walk away.

"Russian gibberish." He smirks.

"Since when do you speak fluent Russian? You're Japanese for crying out loud!" I glare at him.

"Since forever. And yes, I am aware of my race."

...

My mouth is salivating when we get there. By fancy, he meant fancy. For example, his idea of moderately fancy was the best restaurant in town (not to mention, the most expensive).

I haven't had this kind of food since before I moved!

The waiter handed out the menus.

"And what would you like to drink?" He asked me unexpectedly.

"Um."

"Have whatever you want, I'll pay for everything." Izaya waved his hand casually.

I scan the drinks randomly, "I'll have a Swiss chocolate milkshake please."

"Are you sure you want that?" Izaya snickered.

"What? To expensive?" I tease.

"No it's fine. I'll have a water."

You're at an high class restaurant, and you want water to drink? Figures.

While I over here, order one of the most expensive drinks on the menu.

The drinks come, and Izaya watches me drink mine.

I can't help myself, it's so good, I chug it. And order another one.

Izaya is laughing to himself.

Five more milkshakes later.

Hiccup, "I don't feel so well Izzy Chan!"

Izaya smirks, "Are you drunk?"

"May be... I don't know, I haven't drank alcohol before. Besides, that was a chocolate milkshake I ordered. Duh, you're so stupid Izzy Chan!"

"A chocolate milkshake made with strong chocolate vodka," Izaya laughed, "So you just drank six servings of vodka in twenty minutes!"

"Well why didn't you stop me! You wanted me drunk didn't you? So you could the advantage- oh you sick perv!" Hiccup.

"No, I just assumed you were a heavy drinker. You're twenty three, which is more then enough time for you to try drinking. And besides, I didn't think you would chug it!"

Hiccup.

"I don't feel warm anymore. Can I over to your side of the booth?" Hiccup.

"Sure, we can cuddle." Chuckle.

"NO! EW, COOTIES, IZZY CHAN THINK!"

"Shh. You're making a scene."

"Then let's leave! Common sense idiot!" Hiccup.

He smirks, "Right. And go where?"

"I want to go home!"

"Okay, let me put money out for the waiter at least. Then, we can go."

Pout.

Tapping feet.

Walking out.

"I'm still cold!"

"Do you want me to carry you then?"

"Will it make me warm?"

"Sure."

"Fine, then what are you waiting for? Carry me you idiot!" Hiccup.

And so, the drunk girl in the tight fitting dress and the Eskimo began to walk home; she being carried (passed out and snoring quite loudly) in his arms.


	17. The Slasher and the Black Rider

**hmmm... spoilers everywhere.**

**Also, I do know that the events that relate to the anime are/are not going to be in the same chronological order as in the anime.**

* * *

All I can see is darkness. It surrounds and enfolds everything. It blindfolds my eyes.

And all I can do is stand there in this darkness.

There's a light. Almost automatically I reach out with my both of my hands cupped...

...

I wake up with a start; sitting up too quickly.

"Crap!" I groan loudly, clutching my head.

My head hurts like, I don't know, Shizuo hit it with a vending machine or something.

Times that by ten.

When he's angry.

So it hurts.

A lot.

So, yeah.

It's still dark, and I can't see anything.

What happened again?

I honestly can't remember.

Somewhere in the room, my phone buzzes.

_I can hardly breathe, what's going on?_

On second thought, what am I wearing?!

Gosh, I haven't seen this dress since like, prom.

Shudder.

I thought I burned it.

I pat around for my phone.

It's lying on the ground next to the bed, and is buzzing annoyingly.

_Shut up, you're hurting my head._

It feels like an elephant stepping on my head every time it buzzes.

It's a text message. From Kida Masaomi.

It reads, 'Are you okay? You didn't come last night.'

And with a rush, everything comes back.

I know why my head hurts.

I know why I'm in a stupid dress.

I know why I didn't go to Kida's last night.

I know that when I find one Izaya Orihara I will-

Buzz.

'Hanzuki? Are you mad at me?' -Kida Masaomi

"No." I say aloud, to no one in particular.

'No! I couldn't go. A sudden change in plans took place at the same time. I'm sorry.' I type and press send.

Immediately after, my phone buzzes.

'It's okay. I'm sorry you couldn't make it. Are you free after school? I need to talk to you.' Kida replies.

I don't go to school...I'm twenty-three...did he forget that?

He's most likely to talk to me about the gang... But I don't know if I want to do that. Is that really the crowd I want to join?

I need to make up my mind. I know that.

'Yeah, I'm free. I can meet you at school. What time do you get out?' Send.

Will I regret this?

My head hurts.

...

"Wow! Is that chick going to teach here tomorrow or something?" A student passes by, his mouth gaping.

"I wouldn't mind her teaching." His friend replies, smirking at me.

_I really wish Shizuo would suddenly appear, and kill them or something._

Okay, so maybe murder is too harsh.

"Hanzuki!" Kida runs up to me.

"Hey. Are Mikado and Anri coming?" I turn around.

"They're busy..." Kida waved his hand nonchalantly, and starts walking.

I run to catch up, "So what did you want to be talking about?"

"Well, were you still interested in being in my gang?" He says quietly so no one can hear.

"I was thinking about it."

"Look, let me catch you up. During the last meeting..." Kida drops his tone even lower, "The black rider and the slasher interrupted the meeting."

"The who?"

"You've never heard of the local legends?" Kida looked around suspiciously, "Come on, speed it up."

"Local legends?"

"The black rider is a so called, 'female', motorcycle rider who-" He breaks off and walks even faster, "Who they say...has no head."

Celty. This sounds like Celty.

"She has a motorcycle that sounds like a horse. There's a rumor that-" He pauses, "The slasher is a local criminal. They go around cutting people."

He never finished telling me about Celty...

"That's terrible. Who would do that? Do you know how they got in?" I fired off.

"No, but-" He clenches his hands, "The slasher had injured Anri the same day."

"How is she?" I ask concerned.

"She's in the hospital now." He changed the subject to the previous one, "We believe that the slasher and the black rider are allied."

"Why, I mean, what are you going to go about it?"

"We also believe that the Dollars are the cause of Anri's injuries."

"Why?"

"The black rider is known to be in the Dollars. It only makes sense if the Dollars used their strongest member to attack everyone, and try to intimidate everyone into silence and passiveness."

He stops suddenly, "But I won't let that happen. Not on my life." He says quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You're not in Dollars are you?" He half teased. The other half was serious.

I don't know if I like this bloodthirsty, vengeful side of Kida Masaomi.

And I wanted to join his gang?


	18. Question One

Blood everywhere.

And there's nothing I can do.

...

After Kida had his vengeful rant, I returned home to think.

And think.

And think.

I don't know what to do.

Should I join the gang or not?

Tis the question.

Knock Knock.

"Shizuo?" I gape at the bartender dressed blonde.

"Am I really that surprising and intimidating?" He had an amused expression.

"No... I just wasn't expecting you. What can I do for you?"

"I have the rest of the day off. Would you like to-" He lifts his hands and puts in exaggerated quotation marks, "'hang out' with me?"

I laugh, "Okay, hold on. I have to do Christmas shopping anyways."

"Who said anything about shopping?" Shizuo had a hilarious horrific face on.

"Come on. Let's go." I push past him.

...

"Ow!"

I wince.

"You shouldn't drink your coffee so quickly after it's brewed! It has 'caution may be hot,' on the lid for a reason!" Shizuo laughs at me.

We're at Starbucks, and it's negative degrees out. I didn't buy anything, so far.

He walks by me, "It's chilly." We walk outside.

"No duh." I nudge him.

"Where are we going anyways?" I ask him after a couple of minutes.

"Anywhere you can't shop." He kept on walking.

We find ourselves on the bad side of town, in a dark alley.

"Can we get out of here?" I shiver, "I don't like this side of town."

"Me neither." He acts to turn around.

And stiffens.

Last night, I spent hours poring over all of what Google offered for the Slasher and the Black Rider. I was scared to go to sleep, as childish as that sounds.

So imagine, in my shoes, turning around and seeing the one of those things that you've heard many stories about. All of them ending in blood and gore.

You would forgive me if I screamed, wouldn't you?

Because you're imagining you're in my shoes. But you're not.

There in the alley, blocking the way we came, was the Slasher.

The alley was dark enough that you couldn't see any facial features. That is, except, the bright red orbs that took place as its eyes.

It was scarier than anything I imagined.

Because it was real.

"Shizuo. Shizuo. Must cut. Cut. Mother. Cut. Shizuo." It said.

"Get out of the way." Shizuo calmly said.

He took a step forward.

"Shizuo don't!" I screech, in a voice I didn't know I had.

I'm scared.

Very.

No.

Don't.

Cut.

Him.

"Must cut." The form takes a step forward also.

"Get out of my way!" Shizuo loses his temper.

I can't look.

I hear punches landing.

And I feel something wet touch my skin.

"Hanzuki. Open your eyes." Shizuo orders.

I do as I'm told. My hands as I turn them over, have splotches of blood on them.

Shizuo is covered in blood that is not his.

The Slasher is gone.

"Let's get out of here." Shizuo storms away.

He's angry at something.

But it's not directed at the Slasher or myself.

I don't think so.

Question One.

Who's Shizuo mad at?


	19. What's a Lemon?

**Another chapter that has nothing to do with the story at the moment. Summary: What would happen if the characters in this story discovered this website? Told in second person, just because it's more fun to write.**

* * *

"I'm bored," Izaya announced.

"Good for you." Shizuo retorted.

Hanzuki tucked a piece of hair back behind her ear, "Well, what do you guys want to do?"

They were all sitting on a couch in her apartment. The same old, same old.

No one said any suggestions.

"Oh I know!" Hanzuki jumped up with excitement, "Back in my old town, we used to google our names to see what came up. It's really funny!"

"What's the point of that?" Izaya smirked, "Seems like a huge time burner."

She had already grabbed her laptop, and had logged in.

Shizuo leaned over, peering at the screen.

"Don't look at my password!" Hanzuki turned the screen away.

"Yeah, Shizzy Chan." Izaya echoed.

"Shut up flea."

"There." She pulled up Google search engine, and began typing.

_Izaya Orihara_

"Oh goodie, now let's see how much dirt we can find of Izaya." Shizuo looked away disinterested.

Hanzuki frowned, and pressed enter.

"Oh! So many matches!" Hanzuki stared.

"Whatever shall we choose?" Shizuo got up and lumbered into the kitchen.

"This link says 'Shizuo and Izaya Lemon at Fanfiction.' What's a lemon?" Hanzuki clicked on the link.

Shizuo, hearing his name, walked over to see the results.

Izaya, horrified (Probably because he knew what a lemon was from his internet searches and chatroom trolling), shouted, "Hanzuki, don't click on that link!"

And well...

Five minutes later.

Hanzuki is blushing.

Shizuo is banging his head against a wall.

And Izaya is closing the internet window.

"I'm scarred for life." Shizuo stopped for a moment, "What kind of sick people think it's enjoyable to read that?! Don't they have any care for the actual people they're writing about?!"

"SO WAIT! LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT. YOU GUYS ARE IN A YAOI RELATIONSHIP." Hanzuki started laughing hysterically, "I only have one question. Who's the seme and who's the uke?"

She bursts out into another round of laughing.

"That's not funny at all!" Shizuo yells.

"You're just denying your love! It all makes sense!" Hanzuki is laughing so hard-that she has tears and snot coming out of her eyes and nose...

"Promise me you'll never look that up again." Izaya death stared her.

Once again, she found herself wondering if there was actually a way to avoid this piercing stare.

Shizuo and Izaya remained unusually quiet for the remainder of the hour, and then left, both saying they had to be somewhere else.

And they left Hanzuki alone with the computer.

She opened the internet window, and typed in Fanfiction.

And she began to type about her life, maybe hoping someone would read it.

After all, if people read yaoi lemons, wouldn't they read a story that is based on someone's life?

Maybe or maybe not. It's a chance.

And so she began to write online.

Under the penname of her name.

And knew that if Izaya and Shizuo would ever read or find this, they would delete it.

But she did it anyway.


	20. Super Special Christmas Chapter!

**Another holiday chapter that has absolutely nothing to do with the story.**

* * *

Is this the right door?

I look at the note I scribbled down.

Yeah, it has the right number.

I knock tentatively.

The door opens, "Welcome Hanzuki!" Shinra greets, Celty standing by.

It's amusing because Celty has a santa hat on her helmet.

Because she doesn't have a head...

"You can put the white elephant present over by the Christmas tree. Put it on the rug." Shinra gestures.

There's commotion in the hallway I'm standing in; somewhere by the stairs, and it's getting louder...

"Oh come on, Shizzy Chan! You can tell me what you got me!" Izaya tries to look at the bundle Shizuo is carrying, as they walk to us.

"Go away flea. I was enjoying my walk here, and you had to spoil it, didn't you?" Shizzy Chan muttered.

"So, what'd you get me?" Izaya asks again.

"Coal." Shizuo walks, and pushes his way in the door.

Shizuo's in a bad mood.

"Was that my favorite yaoi couple I heard?!" Erika's voice can be heard in their apartment.

"Shut it!" Kadota could be heard.

"Yo Izaya! Come in!" Shinra cleared his throat.

Izaya looks around, "Ladies first. Hanzuki; Celty."

What a gentleman. (Sarcasm.)

I dump my present (which is a toaster I got from Izaya when I first arrived) onto the carpet.

Yes, I know white elephant gifts are supposed to be cheap, but I really didn't use it.

Mostly because I didn't know how to use it...

"It's Shizaya!" Erika started.

"Erika-" Kadota threatened.

"Hey Hanzuki!" Walker clapped his hands, clearing away the tension.

"Where's Mikado and Anri?" I look around.

Kida smiles, "Probably around here somewhere. In a closet, under the mistletoe, in the bathroom, nobody knows."

Only Kida would say something like that.

"That's so pervy!" I blush.

Already I'm turning pinkie pie pink.

Sounds like a My Little Pony. I don't know...

THIS IS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE REAL WORLD.(Note to self: In the real world, ask Kyle if there is a pony named that.)

My stomach growls.

"Is there anything I can eat... right now?" I ask Celty and Shinra.

"There's eggnog and cookies over there. Supper will be in an hour, unfortunately." Shinra answers.

I walk over. I've never had eggnog before. I eye it suspiciously.

"Do you need help? Or do you think the eggnog will magically fill your cup?" Izaya appears.

"I-"

"Merry Christmas!" A little girl's voice is heard at the door.

"Izaya! Is this really a good idea to bring Akane to an adult party?" Namie walks up with Akane.

They must have just arrived.

"It's hardly an adult party. There's Raira Academy students here, remember?" Vorona scoffed, passing by.

Tanaka scolded, "Vorona; we're here to have fun, not be rude to others."

"Yes. Jolly. Hey Shizuo." Vorona sits next to Shizuo by the fireplace.

What a couple.

Although, they aren't yet.

"Well Hanzuki, are you going to take some? You're holding up the line." Izaya teases.

"I brought the sushi!" Simon announces at the door, "And the Russian cakes for Ms. Vorona." He winks.

Inside joke?

"Just a minute, don't rush me. Is this stuff good anyway?" I question Izaya.

"I want some!" Akane peered over the table cloth at the bowl of the liquid.

"Just take some already." He pours me a cup, and holds it out.

He does the same for Akane.

She looks at it as equally suspicious as I am, "It smells and looks weird."

He pours himself a cup.

"While you're at it, pour me one too." Namie orders.

I sniff at it.

I take a sip.

The taste is almost familiar...

"Present opening time!" Shinra announces.

"This is it?" Vorona looks around.

She's not kidding or exaggerating.

There's about half of the people here from Thanksgiving.

"Some people couldn't make it because of the weather." Shinra explains.

I hurry to get my gifts from under the Christmas tree.

I give one to everyone, but I only want to see Shizuo and Izaya's reactions, truthfully.

Hiccup.

What the-?

I only hiccup when I drink vodka, and that's only happened once...

"Hanzuki, do you like the eggnog?" Shinra asks.

"Yeah." I smile fakely, "What's in it?"

"Eggnog from the market with some vodka."

At that moment, about three reactions occur.

"What?!" I hiccup.

At least I'm not drunk. Yet.

"What?!" Namie rushes over to Akane, "You didn't drink any, did you?"

Akane smiles with dimples, "It smelled funny so I dumped it into the trash."

So a twelve year old has more sense than I do. That makes me feel a lot better-

Sarcasm.

"What's vodka?" Akane looks around innocently.

"Don't you dare." I look pointedly at Izaya who has opened his mouth as if to explain, "A twelve year old doesn't need to know what vodka is."

He holds his hands up, "Alright then, Mother Hanzuki in the house."

"What does that mean?!" I almost shout.

"Are you getting angry at me, Han-Chan?" Izaya smirks as his eyes widen.

"I'm going to wring your neck-" I get up.

"Are you drunk again?" Izaya chuckles and grabs my shoulders to push me back down onto the couch.

"Yeah! And it's all your fault again!" I hiccup.

All of my senses are blurring into a familiar numbness.

"You got her drunk before?!" Shizuo almost is crushing the present in his hands.

"It wasn't my fault." Izaya says innocently.

"What does drunk mean?" Akane asks.

"Don't you dare!" It's Vorona this time who looks pointedly at both Izaya and Shizuo.

"Akane, would you like to open your present?" Celty breaks the tension by asking Akane via phone.

The tension eases.

But not by much.

The evening continues with many hiccups and opening of presents.

"What the heck are these?" Shizuo peers at the small box in his hands.

Though he didn't say heck...

"Shizuo!" Tanaka scolded, both of his hands on Akane's ears.

"They're electric cigarettes. I figured they're kind of better for your health than the actual things..." I trail off.

"Uh huh." I can tell that Shizuo probably won't use them, "Thanks."

Hiccup.

It's Izaya's turn.

"A knife sharpening kit?" He smirks.

"Well... it's better than throwing away those dull knifes like you do. Better for the Earth too."

"In what way?"

"Well..."

I didn't really think about that one.

The evening continues and ends.

"I'll walk you home." Shizuo offers... but doesn't really, because he doesn't say it as a question.

"Hold on. Come here Han-Chan!" Izaya calls from over the room.

He's standing near the fireplace.

"What do you want?" I walk over, "Are you upset that you aren't going to be able to walk me home because Shizuo is going to?"

As soon as I'm in distance, he kisses me.

"What was that for?!" I hiccup.

"You taste like vodka." He smirks.

"No duh." I look away.

He points above us.

Mistletoe.

I can feel my cheeks began to warm as I process what's happened.

I storm out of the room when I finally am done processing what's happened.

"Come on Shizuo!" I grab the bewildered bartender.

Or ex-bartender.

Once the door closes, I let out a deep breath.

My so called 'fatty tuna' colored cheeks when blushing, burst into color.

"You like him, don't you?" Shizuo observes.

"No, I don't." I start walking.

"Really?" Shizuo padded alongside me.

"Really."

He smiled, "I just regret one thing about this."

"What?"

"Your name will be Mrs. Flea."

"WHAT?! I TOLD YOU I DON'T LIKE HIM."

"I can only hope. Whatever makes you happy. Though, I hope he knows h*** coming his way if he does anything to you. After all, I want to be a heck of a uncle." He smiles even more.

(Kuroshitsuji reference of the voice actors...)

"What do you mean by that? I told you there is no Hanzaya. And whose uncle are you to be?"

He doesn't answer. I kick him in the shins.

"Eh? What's that for?" Shizuo looks down surprised.

"Don't be such an Erika." I mutter, running ahead.

"Eh?" He smiles, "A race?"

Shizuo bends down, and scoops up some snow.

"Don't you dare, Shi-"

*Smash* (Or whatever sound snowballs make when having contact...)


	21. A Cliche

**Ah, a cliché. Anyways, just want to have a disclaimer that events in here may happen in the anime, and so the events may or may not be in chronological order according to the anime. I am not to held responsible for Durarara! or its characters. The only thing I own is Hanzuki... which is myself...**

* * *

"Bye Simon!"

I close the door.

I can't help but shiver and remember.

Last week, Shizuo and I were attacked by the Slasher.

Last week, I couldn't do anything.

Nothing, defenseless.

I can only imagine what would've happened if Shizuo wasn't there.

I am a weak fool of a person.

I put everyone in danger by simply being there. I know Shizuo wouldn't hesitate to save me if it meant risking his life.

Although, I couldn't say the same for Izaya...

I don't know how he feels actually. If he had a soul behind those eyes that pierce you to death...

Yeah, I don't know if he has a soul either...

Pebbles crunch under my shoes.

Has the ground always been this rough?

Looking around, I think I must've wondered off when I was thinking-

"Yo! You over there!"

I keep on walking towards what I think must be town.

I don't know why, but I speed up.

I hear footsteps behind me.

I break into a run.

"Hey! I told you to stop!" A hand roughly grabs my arm.

I'm caught.

Many voices join this male one.

I'm trapped.

...

"Now don't look so scared!" Their leader chided.

"See, we've been seeing you with gangs all over the place!" Another voice says.

"Who are you with? Dollars, Blue Squares, or the Yellow Scarves?!"

"Yeah! Choose!"

"Choose wisely girly."

"Who?!"

"Speak!"

I remove the yellow bandana I've had for weeks, from my pocket.

"Tell your leader," My voice cracks as I try to sound calm, "Kida Masaomi, that I want to join."

The male leader bursts out laughing, "Where'd you get that Girly?!"

The circle of people becomes closer; the gang members are blocking off all exits.

Isn't this the scene I wished upon myself, just a few minutes ago?

Suddenly, the male leader is sprawled on the ground with a black, gleaming motorcycle displayed on his body.

"Are you okay?" Celty types as people run away.

"Yeah. Thanks."

...

Celty drives slowly beside me as I walk.

We're finally back in town.

"How'd you know where to find me?" I ask her.

The question just occurred to me.

Celty drops her phone.

She's surprised and nervous. She's hiding something important from me.

I hand it back to her.

"Someone told me to find you." She types finally.

I'm about to ask another question when I see a familiar Raira student with a satchel.

"Hey Mikado!" I run up to him.

"Hello Hanzuki." He nods to me.

"Is Kida here?" I need to let him know that I want to join...

If I join the gang, then maybe I could become strong enough that I don't need anyone's protection. I could protect myself. Therefore, no one would be placed in danger except me.

He shakes his head no, and turns back to the scene he was watching before.

"I'd like to make you mine, but sadly for you, you're not my type." A too familiar voice was saying.

Mikado's eyes gleam with interest and terror.

"So go home!" Izaya points a condescending finger at the girl he's talking to.

She has mascara dripping down her cheeks and looks like the girl reincarnation of Michael Jackson.

In my opinion anyway.

She gasps and runs away.

Her boyfriend(?) is lying at Izaya's feet. What happened here?

Izaya turns, "Why Han-Chan, don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?"

Officer Hanzuki notices:

1) The suspect(Izaya) has beaten up a man(victim).

2) The suspect has rejected the victim's girlfriend(girl).

3) The victim is now wisely crawling away as quietly as possible.

I take a few steps toward him. This is what I've been playing through my mind since that night...

*(Whatever sound effect happens when one hand is having contact with another's face.)*

"And that's for getting me drunk!" I say with a satisfied tone.

I proceed to walk away. He doesn't follow, but I can tell he's smirking at me.

Now that I think about it, I don't think that scene I just made was as dramatic as I thought it was going to be.

"Humans are fascinating self-made automations, don't you think?" Izaya is heard saying.

He can't take anything seriously, can he?!


	22. Question Two

Morning wakes me up.

Question 2: Who instructed Celty to save me?

I question myself as I dig into my drawer of socks again.

'I want to join the gang. When's the next meeting?' I type, and press send.

Message sent to Kida Masaomi, the phone's screen confirms. I toss the phone back into the socks.

What do I want to do today?

Another question appears as I turn on the TV.

"-_Just last night, Carl. At approximately 11:43 P.M., another accident occurred. It is believed by the victim that it was another Slasher attack."_

The TV shows the victim.

"_It was terrifying! I was just walking along like anyone else-"_

_"And where did you come from?"_

_"Just a late night party."_

_"Why'd you leave?"_

_"Well, things were getting... WELL YOU KNOW HOW PARTIES ARE NOW ADAYS!"_

The screen switches on to another woman reporter, _"This is not the first attack, as everyone knows."_

_"No it isn't Laura." _A male voice says.

"_What can we do? It is highly advised not to go out on your own at night, and lock all of the doors in your house." _

No duh.

I flip to another channel.

"_What do you think of that Kaito? There's a rumor going around that the local legend of Ikebukuro, the Black Rider, is headless!" _A woman was chattering to an actor on a talk show.

"_Nonsense. No one can live or move without a head!"_

_"You just heard it here folks, Kaito says no go on the rumor! 'FAKE OR DOUBLE-TAKE' will be back after a word from our sponsers!"_

Another channel.

"_I'm scared for my children and my wife! With all of these gangs around Ikebukuro, I might as well leave!"_

A flustered father was complaining to the camera.

I turn the TV off.

Izaya.

Isn't he an informant? I think I recall him saying something about that.

And with that thought, I'm out the door.

...

I knock.

According to the address book, this is where one Izaya Orihara lives.

Hopefully, for my sanity, there's only one smirking informant around here.

"Han Chan?" Izaya flung the door open wide, "I didn't expect to see you so soon. Do you miss me?"

"Far from it." I walk in, "I need your help."

The place is the same as when I left it last.

"Hmm... How interesting. Even I didn't see this coming!" Izaya hops onto his chair, and the momentum takes him all the way over to me.

"So what do you need help with?" He smirks up at me, "I usually don't go into personal business, but you're so interesting, I might as well."

After a moment of silence he peers up at me, "Are you going to make it worth my while, or waste my time?" He smiles, "Not that I would hate to waste time with you."

What does that mean?

For some reason, I don't think he means information or random staring at each other...

GOSH, DOES HE REALLY MEAN WHAT I THINK HE MEANS?!

If he does, then he's a perv.

Nothing new, of course.

"How much do you know about the local gangs, the Black Rider, and the Slasher?" I find my voice finally.

He sticks out his lower lip, "How insulting. I am an informant, my dear, and I do know quite a lot."

"Well, do you know about those subjects though?"

"Hmph." He smirks, "What a silly question. Honestly."

He stands up abruptly, and I find myself looking at him with a couple centimeters of space between us...

"Get away." I push him back lightly.

"Are you still running this 'I'm afraid of boys' jag again?" He walks over to a chess board.

What the heck did he do to his chess board?

It's full of pieces that don't even belong in chess, and the board itself is burned.

Looking at it, the whole thing is burned.

"Go get a new chess board for Pete's sake." I walk over, "That's like, chess board abuse."

"Works well enough for me." Izaya shifted a pawn over, "How interesting. The Queen is surrounded."

"The what?"

He moves a couple more pieces around, "What an ironic scenario."

"Will you just answer my questions about those subjects?" I grab his hand, and accidentally knock a few pieces over.

With a sigh he looks at me, "You have my attention. What?"

"You know! I want information."

"Then there's a price."

"How much?" I pull out my wallet.

"Nowhere near to what my normal fee is." He looks in to the wallet, "Although, you could pay me with your body."

(**O****kay so the last five sentences didn't happen. Ness-Chan just wanted to put a Ouran HighSchool Host Club reference in there.)**

"Hanzuki." Izaya smirks, "You might be on to something there, actually."

Are we still talking about the chess board?

"How interesting. That scenario might actually happen." Izaya murmured.

I look back down at the board. I've moved the pieces so that now the Queen was back on her color side, and surrounded by like colored pawns. The same colored King is about to be captured by a knight of the other color.

It makes no sense to me at all.

"So the Queen is surrounded by her faithful followers who would die to protect her, while the King is about to be captured. It all makes sense!" Izaya laughs.

What now?

Izaya seems to come back to reality, "Now Han Chan, to answer your questions, we'll start with the gangs as it is the most simple. Why you don't ask those around you the same questions you're asking me, is purely human ignorance on your part."

Why is he not making sense?

"The Blue Squares had previously had a gang fight with the Yellow Scarves. Ever since, the Blue Squares have been quiet. I don't even think the gang exists anymore, but humans are so unpredictable at the same time being predictable." He rattles off the information.

He's saying it so readily, I'm having a tough time keeping up with this new information.

"Gangs in Ikebukuro are fairly well known, and the same can be true of their members. It's simple; same color as the gang, same gang member." Izaya chuckles, "But this makes it very easy for the police."

Izaya pulls his chair back over to his laptop.

"The Yellow Scarves are coming back in full force now, without a doubt. However, while they were down for the count, a new gang has appeared. This one is called the Dollars, and they are more hard to pinpoint the members since the gang itself has no color. However, you can safely guess that half of the people next to you on the subway are part of the gang in one shape or form. The leader is unknown." Izaya types something in on the computer, "Come here."

It's a chatroom, and the heading on the screen says 'Dollars Chatroom'. Pretty straight forward.

"How did you get in?" I ask, "Scoot over."

He makes room for me to sit on the chair, and laughs.

"It's not hard to guess how. I'm a member of course." Izaya laughs, "Hanzuki, you can be so stupid at times."

Like Chapter Nine?

"Don't remind me." I reach over to the mouse to scroll down.

Listed on the screen is his username.

"You're a girl!" I giggle, not knowing how to react.

He rolls his eyes, "Get over it. Now, as I was saying, the leader is unknown, but I have a pretty safe guess."

And of course he makes me ask, "Who?"

And of course he smirks, "It's a secret."

"Anyway," He continues, "I can't tell you. Moving onwards! The Yellow Scarves now currently believe that the Black Rider and the Slasher are both part of the Dollars, which is true. The Black Rider goes by Setton, and the Slasher by Saika. However, Saika is known as a demon sword. It only makes sense for the Slasher to call itself the demon sword of legend doesn't it?"

**This chapter is getting long... I'm going to call this Part One!**


	23. I Need A Band Aid

"I guess..." I ask not really listening, even though I had asked the question for information, "So let me get this straight."

He looks at me to continue.

"You're a Dollars member." I say pathetically.

Izaya looks at me incredulously, "That's all you gathered?"

"Well, you were talking so fast..."

"Do I have to start over then?" Another smirk plays onto his lips.

"NO! I mean, continue, please. I find this stuff you're talking about fascinating." I lie.

Even though what he's talking about, is what I asked for.

"So fascinating that you don't even have to pay attention to it." Izaya smirks, sitting down in a chair.

"Come on; continue!" I urge him.

"If you insist," He grinned, "So, the Black Rider is known to be around this area, on a motorcycle that is infamous for sounding like a horse. Victims of the Black Rider say that the Black Rider attacks with a scythe drawn out of her head."

"Her? Head?" I say dumbfounded.

"Well, the Black Rider is known to have the figure of a woman. A headless one, that is. That's supposedly why she wears a helmet all the time."

This sounds like-

"Sound like anyone you know?" He smiles knowingly.

"Celty...?"

"This local legend is secretly a woman named Celty Sturlson." He continues as if I didn't say anything, "And she is in search for her head."

"Wait, so she's really headless?"

"So you're paying attention this time! How nice!" Izaya walks over to a bookcase near his desk, and pulls out something in a glass container.

It's a head. A female head.

"That's a really detailed sculpture." I say, not knowing what to do.

Must've taken a lot of yen to buy, too.

He rolls his eyes dramatically, "She's not a sculpture. It's Celty's head."

"Of course," I play along, "You have Celty's head in a container on a shelf on a bookcase, in your room." I drag out the sentence so that he can tell I don't believe him.

He unscrews the cap of the container, and tilts it toward me, "Then if you don't think it's real, what is it then?"

I dip my hand inside and touch the top of the 'head'.

I can't help but gasp. The hair.

The hair is real.

"That's not clay!" I gasp, jerking my hand out, "What the heck is this?"

"Hair." He says calmly, screwing on the cap again.

"No, I refuse to believe that!"

"What will convince you? You've touched evidence. Ask Celty herself."

"Okay! I'll do that!" I shake my head too fast; I become slightly light headed. "But I won't believe that."

"Suit yourself. I only say what I know." He sat the container carefully back onto the shelf, "Not everyone knows this, but Celty is a dullahan."

"A dull hen?" I chop the word.

"It's a word for fairy, if you will." He sits back down, "Myth says that when you become old enough and you are about to die, the dullahan comes and knocks on your door. Similar to the belief of a shimigami or the grim reaper. When you open the door, the dullahan will throw blood onto you, taking you to your final destination."

"I can't seem Celty doing that." I deadpan, "And if that's her head, why do you have it anyway?"

"Convenience." He says simply.

"How is that con-"

"Saika is known to be the Slasher, and reportedly trashes the Dollars chatroom. All she really says though is 'Mother', and 'cut'. She goes around with her sword sneaking up on people and, well, cuts them up. To be crude."

"Oh, I would never have guessed that of a person named the 'Slasher.'"

"Shut up, I'm trying to explain to someone who's not even listening."

"I am too listening!"

"Oh really? How many gangs did I talk about?"

"Four, right?"

He shakes his head, but is still smirking, "And that's relatively the short summary of everything you've asked to know about."

"Short?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yup." He walks over to the glass window wall of his apartment near his desk, and leans against the window, "There's too much going on in this town that even I can't tell you all about it in one chapter!"

Is that breaking the fourth wall again?

Probably.

"Look." He points a finger against the glass at something.

"Isn't that cold? I mean, the glass should be freezing because it's only 5 degrees out." I walk over.

"It's not that cold."

"Says the Eskimo."

I look at the little speck he's pointing at.

It's a warehouse. The Yellow Scarves'.

"How do you know about that?" I asked surprised.

"One word." He points at himself, "Informant."

"No, duh." I mutter under my breath.

"You wanted an answer." He smirks even more.

"Not that kind of answer!"

The door opens to the apartment without any notice.

A little girl walks in; her eyes are filled with wonderment. Namie follows, her eyes filled with boredom and '_I-hate-my-job'._

The girl walks up to me, "Are you Nakura?" Her eyes are filled with hope.

"No," I lean down and pat her head, "Who are you sweetie?"

She's such a cute kid.

"I'm Akane." She smiles.

She has such adorable dimples! This kid is so cute.

I look at Izaya. Surprisingly, he looks at Akane uninterested.

"Izaya, who is this?" I try to sound calm.

He didn't abduct a kid did he?

Though, knowing Izaya, this would seem kind of normal for him.

"Who's that?" Akane points at Izaya; she asks Namie.

Namie smiles coldly, "The devil himself."

"Really?" Akane stares curiously at Izaya.

"Don't spread rumors about me, Namie. It isn't nice." Izaya sighs as he collapses back into his spin chair.

I would totally ship Namie and Izaya if there wasn't-

"I'm just stating the truth. Besides, I'm not nice. I hate you with a passion." Namie steered Akane closer to Izaya, "Where do you want her?"

"I didn't want you to bring her here." Izaya leans back and looks at Namie innocently, "She's only a kid."

"Or maybe you don't want girlfriend interfering in your plans," Namie looks pointedly at me, "You don't have a clue on what malicious plans swirl around in his head."

I thought, at least, that I did.

"Stop spreading rumors, Namie." Izaya brushes off her comments.

"I'm not his girlfriend." I mutter under my breath.

**(Hanzuki: I almost wanted to be like, 'FRIENDZONED!' but that doesn't make sense...)**

"Unless you want me to spread rumors, Namie." Izaya continues, "Like did you know, Hanzuki, that Namie here, has a thing for her bro-"

"Shut up." Namie storms out and slams the door.

"She has such a temper." Izaya chuckles, "She's so fun to toy with."

"Uh-huh." I try to pretend that I'm not listening.

But why do I care?

Is that Question 3?

I don't want to deal with that question now.

"Han-Chan, are you blushing?" Izaya looks at me, "I didn't even do anything this time! How interesting."

"No, I'm not!" I say hotly, and then turn away.

Akane hugs my stomach (because it's as high as she can reach. Finally, someone who's shorter than me!) and she says comfortingly, "Don't cry."

Again, cute kid.

Izaya chuckles, "I hope you're not jealous with my relationship with Namie."

"I am not!" More heat rises into my cheeks.

"It's a observation/hate relationship." His chair creaks as he gets up.

"I didn't know there was such a thing."

He grabs my arms, and hugs me from behind, "You're so cute Han-Chan!"

"Get away creep." I try to detach his hold on me.

"She said she doesn't want you to hold her! Get away! Don't hurt her!" Akane detaches and hits Izaya repeatedly.

Not that a little girl can hit very hard.

"Ouch." Izaya says mockingly.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Akane backs away, not registering that he was kidding, "Can I get you a band aid?"

There's no sarcasm in her words. She's completely serious.


	24. Part One of This Chapter

**I swear there's a real chapter here somewhere. I just hate this chapter so much... so I tried to make it more fun.**

**Welcome to The New Girl in between chapters show! Hosted by Erika Karisawa!**

**Erika: We have an exciting episode here! With the fan favorite couple...**

**(Drum roll)**

**Erika: Shizuo and Izaya!**

**Shizuo: *lets go of Izaya's shirt* I'll kill you later.**

**Izaya: I think you stretched the cotton in my shirt... *fake pout***

**Erika: Could we have a Shizaya moment already?!**

**Shizaya: What?**

**Erika: *Blushes* Nothing. Tonight, I'm going to ask you several questions about the show that are meant to be awkward and personal.**

**Shizuo: Why? *Pulls out cigarette***

**Erika: Because the fans eat this stuff up. *Goes starry eyed* First question! Shizuo, how do you feel about Hanzaya (Hanzuki x Izaya)?**

**Shizuo: Well, I think in a previous chapter I said that if Izaya did anything to her, I would hunt him down.**

**Izaya: And my little dog Toto, too? *Smirks***

**Erika: *Trying to not fangirl* If I remember correctly that led Izaya to say something-**

**Shizuo: *interjects* I'd rather not hear that again. Ever.**

**Izaya: Oh, I'm sure it's not _that _awkward.**

**Erika: Well, we can actually see it again. We have it conveniently taped and recorded somewhere...**

**Shizuo: I will kill everyone on this (beeped out) show if you play that.**

**Izaya: Are you a sadist, Shizzy-chan?**

**Shizuo: No, what? That has nothing to do with anything in this conversation. That's like me casually asking you, if you're a masochist.**

**Erika: *Nosebleed***

**Shizuo: What are you thinking about?! *turns toward Erika***

**Izaya: Maybe I am.**

**Shizuo: Okay, somebody tell me if I'm the only one on this (Beeped out) show that is taking this seriously! **

**Izaya: Come on Shizzy-Chan, do it for the fans.**

**Shizuo: What fans? We have none.**

**Izaya: Maybe you don't because everyone terrified of you and scared that you'll quote, "(beeped out)" them, but I happen to have fans.**

**Shizuo: Really?! Let's see these fans then.**

**Izaya: Well if you read the next chapter that's conveniently right below us, maybe you'll meet Saki.**

**Shizuo: How do you know that? Maybe Hanzuki chose to put some weird (beeped out) below us.**

**Izaya: With that kind of language, you'll never have fans.**

**Shizuo: I hate you, and I want you to die.**

**Izaya: There you go again. You really are a sadist, aren't you?**

**Shizuo: Hey Izaya, are you a sadist?**

**Izaya: Maybe I am. You just used my question.**

**Shizuo: I'm aware flea. I'm smart, you know?**

**Izaya: Actually, your actions suggest otherwise. Such as throwing people because they don't have the same philosophy of love that you do. That definitely shows intelligence. *sarcasm***

**Erika: *Barely regaining composure* Love philosophy?! *Faints in fandom***

**Shizuo: So the host of this-**

**Izaya: The fans, Shizzy-Chan, the fans.**

**Shizuo: *deep breath* -of this show, has now fainted...so does that mean I can leave now?**

**Izaya: How'd we get here in the first place? **

**Walker: *Walks onstage, and begins to drag Erika's body off* Erika shot you with some sleeping drug filled darts.**

**Shizuo: So I didn't even agree to be on this (beeped out) show in the first place!**

**Izaya: Hmm. I believe this drug I'm feeling is illegal.**

**Shizuo: You can name what drug you're on?**

**Izaya: No, I just read up on stuff. Why are you so disgusted? You're the smoker!**

**Shizuo: What kind of stuff? *mutter* It would make sense if you did do drugs.**

**Izaya: How so? *genuinely confused* **

**Shizuo: Well, you know...**

**Izaya: No, I don't get your logic.**

**Shizuo: Well, you kind of act insane.**

**Izaya: I thought we agreed on this! You're a sadist, and I am a masochist.**

**Shizuo: We didn't agree on that. Besides, did you just agree that you're a perv?**

**Izaya: Hmm, but I personally believe that I'm more of a sadist. **

**Shizuo: No, you're a perv.**

**Izaya: *Starts walking* Well, I have to meet Hanzuki at the Ikebukuro subway station now...**

* * *

_Hanzuki: when is the next meeting?_

_Kida: tonight at four_

_Hanzuki: busy. Next one?_

_Kida: next week Friday at seven_

_Hanzuki: I should be able to come!_

I look over the text messages to Kida, and can't help but feel guilty. I'm going to miss yet another meeting.

In my defense, it wasn't my fault.

But still, for someone who is making me miss an important meeting, yet again, couldn't he be more timely?

Instead, he tells me to meet him at the first place we met, when it's negative degrees Fahrenheit outside. And there is no decent shelter to wait for him here.

And so, here I am, waiting for Izaya to come; under the roof of the wall-less subway station of downtown Ikebukuro. This better be good. Did I mention it's freezing out?

I pull out my earbuds out of my pocket. Plug in. Choose song. Stick earbuds in. Listen.

And wow! you are cast away from reality.

So here I am, with my music cranked up so loud, I don't even notice the crunching of snow under shoes; footsteps. Izaya chuckles, watching me for a second.

I still don't notice he's there, as I lean against the subway pillar; my eyes closed. I hum the melody softly. Izaya reaches and pop! my right earbud comes out.

He leans in and says in the most pathetic tone ever, "Hey."

But the way he says it, mixed with the fact my eyes are closed, makes me scream.

"That's an interesting reaction." Izaya drawls, swinging my earbud around his fingertips, "Am I really that scary?"

1) Sometimes

2) I REALLY CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING

I pause the music on my phone, "What?"

"Nothing." Izaya smiles to himself.

"Took you long enough to get here." I complain, the chattering of my teeth noticeably loud, "I'm freezing out here."

"C'mon, it's not really that cold out."

Says the Eskimo.

"It is too!" I protest, and roll up my sleeves to display an arm covered in goosebumps.

"Now who's fault is it that you didn't wear a winter coat?" Izaya peers down at me.

The fault of the girl who didn't look at the temperature beforehand. Not that I would admit that.

"I have to admit, I wouldn't have pinned you as a dubstep kind of girl." Thankfully, he changes the subject.

Unfortunately, I'm still cold.

"Yeah, well, I like Skrillex, nightcore, nightstep, trance, Shinedown, Queen, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Breaking Benjamin, Nightwish, Marina and the Diamonds, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Transiberian Orchestra, Bon Jovi, Pink, Miku Hatsune, Three Days Grace, Green Day, Skillet, Cobra Starship, Macklemore, 3oh!, One Republic, Simple Plan, and All American Rejects. Not to mention, my favorite song is a cell phone jingle by a german robot." I pause, "What's your point?"

"That's a very, very wide music palette." He cocks his head at me, "Which cell phone jingle?"

"Silence, I kill you." I turn away from him, plucking my earbud from his fingers.

"That's your answer?"

"No, it's just embarrassing if you knew, and you'd make fun of me."

"Of course I would."

No lying there.

"Are you going goth on me?" He raises an eyebrow, changing the subject, "Because some of those bands were kind of dark."

"You have some messed up version of gothic." I glare at him, stuffing my phone in my pocket, "Forget it. I shouldn't have brought it up. And by the way, I'm scene. It's totally different."

"Uh-huh." Izaya starts walking away, "I'm going to start checking your wrists from now on!"

"I'm not emo! Besides, if anyone would be doing the cutting, it would be you!" I run after him.

I almost run into him, when he stops and turns around.

"How do you figure?" He's calm.

"Well, you're the one with the knife. And I'm the one who's scared of them." I cross my arms.

He starts walking again, "I'm not depressed or suicidal like my fangirls."

"What fangirls?" I almost run into him again.

"I do have fans." He smirks, "And they worship me like a god."

"That's pretty creepy."

"It is. It's scary how much faith they have in me."

Izaya fangirls. Right...

When vending machines fly.

"What's that look for?" Izaya displays a fake hurt face, "I do have fans, you know."

"Oh really? Can I meet one of these so-called fans of yours sometime?" I don't really expect an answer.

"If you really want to. I'm still in contact with one who is pretty stable. She's in the hospital downtown."

I wait for him to explain why his fangirl is in the hospital.

Instead, he starts walking, "How about we take a field trip to meet her, eh?"

Can't wait.

...

So, ten more minutes of walking (and 5,000 more goosebumps) we arrive at the room of this fangirl.

The nurse tells us to go in.

"Yo Saki." Izaya opens the door casually.

"Izaya! I'm so glad you came, it's been a while!" Saki's face lights up.

Izaya closes the door and winks at me. Saki doesn't see it.

"It has, hasn't it? You look well." He agrees.

"Who is this?" Saki smiles, "Another one?"

Another what?

Wait, if she means fangirl, she's mistaken. I came to see a fangirl, not be seen as one.

"No." Izaya shakes his head, smiling, "How are you?"

"Fine! Do you want me to do anything for you? What are your orders?" Saki smiles willingly.

It almost makes me want to puke. She's so ready to do whatever he wants. Almost like, I realize, like a pawn in a game of chess...

"Relax, get well." Izaya smiles, "Has Masaomi visited you lately?"

She shakes her head, "I think he's mad at me."

"Really?" Izaya takes in this information with almost sadistic pleasure, "That's horrible."

And he lets her play dog to him. How degrading for her.

I'm so focused on figuring out Saki's relationship with Izaya, that I almost miss the mention of Masaomi. What's the connection there?

I start paying attention, but Izaya starts moving toward the door already.

"Are you leaving?" Saki sounds pained, "Please come back soon; I'll miss you."

Izaya drags me out and clicks the door behind him.

...

The distinct, sharp change in temperature (from leaving the hospital to going outside) makes me feel colder than ever.

It's silent as we walk.

"Hey Izaya, why was that girl in the hospital?" I try to break the silence.

And I do it very awkwardly.

On the otherhand, Saki didn't look very injured to be in the hospital.

"Izaya?" I turn to look at him, as we both stop walking.

He's not even listening, his eyes are focused on something ahead.

"Hey." I give him a shove, "Earth to Eskimo."

Instead of waking up from whatever revere he is in, he pushes past me and starts sprinting toward whatever he saw.

"Izaya? Hey! Where are you going?!" I start to chase after him.

...

Note to self: Izaya is fast.

I hunch over as I catch up to him.

_Charley Horse!_

"Hana ZouKee?" Izaya asks, walking toward a figure.

It's a girl.

He was chasing after a girl.

"Just a minute Izaya. Wait your turn." The girl has her back to him as she chats with her friend.

She didn't even turn around.

Suddenly she stops, and hesitantly turns her head.

Izaya and Hana just stand there for a second; staring.

Her face breaks out into a grin, "Onii-san?" And she runs to hug him.

Envy. Or is this called jealousy?

But for what... I don't want to confront right now.

When they let go, both Izaya and I start staring at something increasingly obvious.

Hana ZouKee is pregnant.

She follows both our eyes and blushes a little.

"It's a boy." She pats her stomach fondly, "His name will be Akyato."

* * *

**I'm going to stop here, and post another chapter that's part of this one... because this chapter is going to be SUPER LONG.**

**So much non IC ness.**

**And by the way, if you haven't heard any of those bands or if you didn't get at least one of the five references in this chapter, I will hunt you down.**

**Or rather, that's Shizuo's thing. Nevermind.**


	25. Part Two of this Chapter

**I've decided not to have the game show thing anymore because it gave me an idea. *Smirks creepily* Anyways, just want to say that I hate this chapter so much but I hope you guys love it. If that makes sense. Plus I act really 'witchy' in this chapter. DON'T HATE ME, IT'S CALLED JEALOUSY.**

**Oh, hey for your information, the first part is 3rd person and then the second part is 1st person Hanzuki. I can't really describe it very well... but you'll see.**

* * *

Some things cannot be said. Such as 'Did you know I love you?', or 'When did this happen?', or 'Are you going for an abortion?'

Thankfully, Izaya had the decency and forethought not to say any of these. Just barely. It really annoyed him when he didn't have answers to questions that felt really important to him. After all, he was an informant. He had the crave for knowledge and information. But rarely did his information collecting get this personal. That too, annoyed him.

In fact, he was getting rather pissed off with... pretty much everything.

So here he was, staring stupidly at a round stomach; dumbfounded.

"Do you want to touch it?" Hana smiled knowingly, "Here." She reached for his hand.

"No, I wouldn't want to hurt it." He smiled back.

In truth, he hates children. That includes unborn babies. Yet, humankind couldn't exist without them, so really he should be having some sort of fetish over this baby right now...

Right now, he needed to be a realist.

"It's okay, you won't hurt it." She smiled, not taking offense at all.

_You didn't get the hint at all..._ He couldn't help but thinking, and watched helplessly as his hand was guided toward her round skin.

"See? He must like you, because he kicked. Did you feel that?" Her face glowed with motherly happiness.

Hanzuki stood in the background.

_Awkwardly... like a third wheel. God, you'd think it would be THEIR baby together, the way they're both acting._ She thought.

And maybe she was a little jealous and envious. With a tint of denial for something...

The woman with Hana originally, stood at the back, chattering away on a cell phone. She didn't seem to mind that a stranger had come up and was now feeling her friend's stomach which was pregnant.

"When did you move here?" Izaya asked suddenly.

He couldn't help but feel like an idiot. The girl he was looking for, was in his city the whole time. And during that time, she met someone and got pregnant...

_Realist, Orihara. What's done is done. _He mentally slapped himself. _Besides, this is a human we're talking about. I'm a god, I don't need a human partner. I shouldn't want one in the first place._

He paused, thinking deeper for a moment. _But even Hades had Persephone._

Hana laughed, her stomach bouncing up and down (_Quite comically-_Hanzuki thought), "No, I don't live here. I'm just visiting my husband's sister. That's her over there." She motioned.

That made him feel a little less stupid. This was a rare moment for him, to feel outrageously stupid.

"Oh? And where do you and your husband live, then?" He asked, removing his hand as soon as hers left his.

She had trapped his hand on her stomach with her own. He really didn't want to touch her overly bloated stomach, but she made him do it anyway. Another rare moment, someone forcing him to do something he didn't want to.

Suddenly, he really didn't like how personal this situation was.

So deep in thought on how much he hated this situation, he didn't notice Hana's reaction to his question until she had buried her wet face in his shoulder.

She was crying.

(He really didn't like people crying either, it made him think of babies which he really didn't like, and he had already made Hanzuki cry like four times in this story)

"Huh?! Hana, calm yourself!" The sister ran over, closing the phone.

"My husband...h-h-he," Hana choked out, "HE'S DEAD!" And then she proceeded to bury her wet mascara smeared face into his shirt again.

_Good thing Izaya doesn't wear white._ Hanzuki thought rather smugly, _Otherwise it would be covered with his new girlfriend's mascara and wet with her tears._

In otherwords, Hanzuki was being quite the unemotional person right now.

In fact the way she was acting is what you can call sort of what rhymes with witchy. But haven't we all felt that way at one point...? No, not really?

To Hanzuki's credit, Izaya did sort of ditch her for his pregnant ex. And that hurts. A lot.

"I'm sorry. She's not usually like this." The sister pried Hana off him, "Let's go home now Hana. All of this emotion is not good for the baby."

"Right, of course. The baby." Hana sniffed.

"Sorry, it's just those pregnant hormones, you know?" The sister looked sympathetically at Hana, and apologetically at Izaya.

_Actually I don't know, because I've never been pregnant. _Izaya smirked to himself.

_Oh, of course he'd know, because he acts like such a pregnant, teenage, little boy going through puberty with moodswings everyday! _Hanzuki smiled to herself.

It amused her so much, that she accidentally laughed aloud.

The sister gave a confused look to them both.

_I apologize and then they're both smiling and laughing. Was it something I said?_ she thought correctly.

"Sorry for that. I'm just so emotional now adays." Hana wiped her eyes, "I better get going. Nice to see you again, Izaya. I hope you have the most wonderful relationship with your wife."

_WIFE?! _Hanzuki and Izaya shared the single word thought together.

That wasn't a possibility yet. Not so soon, but maybe in the future...

_Yeah, right. Again, he's a little kid going through puberty and pregnancy combined. _Hanzuki mentally scoffed to herself.

And with that piece of information, Hana left.

Too late, Izaya realized that he never got her information or contact number.

Probably for the best if Hanzuki had anything to do with it.

...

He is such a moron. Like the kind that are really a genius but have those really idiotic social moments.

So, as he stares at the ground that his girlfriend stepped on to leave him, I'm still here and am cold.

_Hello Izaya, I'm freezing to death over here. I know you're depressed because you just met your childhood crush and she's pregnant and has a dead husband, but can we really start moving? At least do something please!_

Okay, now that I review that over in my mind, I do sound sort of cold and mean.

Okay, I am being cold and mean. But in my defense...wow I do sound like such a brat.

Izaya moves.

IT'S ALIVE!

He starts walking without a word, in the direction opposite of the one Hana went. I can tell he's still thinking. About what, though?

"Say something already!" I nudge him impatiently.

My tone must've caught him off guard for a moment. He quickly recovers.

"What's this tone for?" He examines my face. "Are you jealous?"

I turn my face away so he can't see it, "No, why would I?"

"Really?" He grins, "Well, you might be jealous of Hana."

"Huh? Pshhh, that's stupid."

"Has anyone told you you're not good at lying?" He smirks.

"I'm not!" My voice squeaks.

"And you know why you're lying? Do you know why you're jealous?" He runs and stops in front of me.

Don't you dare say it.

"You like me." Izaya leans in and whispers in my ear, "Come on. You know you do."

He said it.

"Izaya."

"Hmm?"

"If you don't get out of my space, I'll hit you with, with, with, SOMETHING!"

"Uh huh. Something." He smirks and leans back, "Oh dear, are you blushing? I think this only proves that you DO like me."

What did I say? He's an evil genius. He figured me out.

"No. Shut UP! I'm cold, so let's just go somewhere warm now please." I shiver to prove my point.

He takes off his jacket and holds it out to me.

"I don't want it." I mumble.

"Did you know that mumbling is a symptom of hypothermia?" Izaya smirks, "We wouldn't want you to get that, would we?" He starts to slip one arm in then the other into the jacket.

When he's done, he slips his arm around my shoulders.

"My little Eskimo." He smirks wildly at me.

"Sounds like an awful toy for kids in the Arctic." I mutter under my breath.

"Are you still cold? You're mumbling, so you must still be cold! Here let me hug you so we can share body warmth!"

"NO!" I yank my head out from under his arm, then run away a few meters.

"Don't deny the feels." He walks toward me, chuckling.

I reach down and scoop up a small pile of snow.

"I swear Izaya, I will hit you with this so hard that-" I'm forced to drop the snow when he leans in and grabs me by the shoulder, and-

(Whatever sound a snowball makes when it has contact with skin)

"What the heck?!" I wipe the wet remains of the snowball off my face, "That wasn't nice!"

"See there!" He dances away playfully, "You were expecting me to kiss you!"

(Another snowball hitting skin sound)

He wipes the snow from his eyes, to see me laughing.

"Payback is heck, isn't it?" He grins, and reaches down to take his revenge.


	26. Stress Relievers at Wal-Mart

**A/N: I've combined previous chapters that were very small and made them decent sized chapters together...so if you were wondering why there's suddenly only 25 (not including this one) and not 42 (which was the previous number) this is your answer. Oh yeah, nothing against every single punk/emo/gothic/scene person out there or Wal-Mart people... it's just the bias and most people find it intolerable. I however, do not have an opinion in reality, it is viewed to me as an "extension of your personality". However, as the majority of people do abhor such things I have chosen for Hanzuki to have this opinion also.**

Days pass by as the next gang meeting becomes increasingly closer. And closer. And closer. Not too mention, fear has been rising in Ikebukuro lately. The Slasher and the gangs are getting most people overwhelmed with it. I however, still don't know what to think. Lately, my priorities have been rearranged and I've been slacking off. I'm surprised Simon hadn't said anything yet. Yet. All I've done up to this point is to think quietly to myself about...everything, really.

Do I want to go through with being a gang member? I did want to protect myself, but without hurting others. Being in a gang would do both those things; protecting myself but also hurting others. They might hurt people I care about. I know this, everyone does. There have been news broadcasts focused on victims of gangs recently. Most of the victims are members of gangs or their loved ones. I can't put those I love in danger. Although, Kida would never allow that to happen. Would he?

That's just one question flying around in my head. The others are worse. And the thing that bugs me beyond compare, is that I don't have any answers. I need to find these answers; I know that much. I know what you're thinking, '_'Izaya's an informant, why don't you ask him again?'_ I can't. Simply put, I just can't. One) it's personal, and Two) that's classified. As in this information is so confidential to me, that I don't even want to tell it to imaginary people from around the world that I don't even know (AKA you). Doesn't that make me sound insane? And yes, my reasons for not telling Izaya are pretty much the same... however, I can't exaggerate it enough how much I don't want anyone to know these secrets of mine. Although you already know that I'm a gang member now... so that's really one secret down. A secret that's not a secret. Shouldn't there be a proper term for that? Ah yes, it's called '_Well known knowledge'._ I'm kidding, I really didn't need to think about that one... I just wanted to be sarcastic for one moment in my stupid life. Sarcasm? Yes. Sanity?Maybe.

On Monday, Izaya stopped by my door and practically pounded it down with his knocking. I didn't let him in. Funny how the first idea that comes to mind when I recall this, is the story of the three little pigs. I never liked that story...it showed exactly how you get what's coming to you. That's a very unpleasant thought. Anyway, when he wasn't allowed in, he started talking to me through the door instead of leaving. He huffed and puffed, but the building didn't come down (You would have to be Shizuo to do that)! I'm kidding, (can you imagine Izaya getting angry? It's not possible for him) but he did call me a reclusive, anti-social person who is bound to be that weird old lady with 17 cats in the future. To which I replied, "I happen to hate cats." Which led to a rant of his about how hate is a strong word and it isn't nice for me to say that. As if he knows what to do to be a nice person. On the other hand, Izaya probably does but chooses not to because it's more _interesting _for him.

Yesterday, Shizuo paid a visit. His was less awkward and boring than Izaya's. By far, it was very _interesting._ Dialogue follows similar to this.

Shizuo: Boss is making me take a vacation day. He says that I need to hang out with a girl today. And he gave me a coupon to use a Russian Sushi which expires today. Tanaka said he would fire me if I didn't use this coupon.

Me: Why can't you go by yourself?

Shizuo: It's a buy one get one.

Me: You eat a lot, don't you?

Shizuo: That's weird eating alone.

Me: But don't you do it all the time?

Shizuo: C'mon. Do it for me?

Me: I'd rather not.

Shizuo: Aren't you hungry?

Me: No.

Shizuo: (looks over my shoulder into my apartment) I see a half eaten Ramen Noodle container on your couch. It still has steam drifting out of it.

Me: I'll see you later! Bye now! (Closes door hurriedly)

Shizuo: Hanzuki, I'm going to break your door.

Me: No, you're not. (Nervous)

Shizuo: Five.

Me: Are you serious?

Shizuo: Four.

Me: You're kidding...right?

Shizuo: Three.

Me: Don't you dare.

Shizuo: Two.

Me: (hurriedly opens door) Haha, that was funny. Let's go now.

Shizuo: I wasn't actually going to do it...

Me: You seemed pretty serious.

Shizuo: You're a sucker for scams, you know that?

And that's pretty much how I got sucked into going out of my apartment and being actively social. Other than that, I guess I have been pretty reclusive. Am I proud of it? No. Will I do something about it? Maybe. If you haven't noticed, 'maybe' is my synonym for no. Should I just stop saying maybe and just saying no? Maybe. Probably...

So here I am, one day away from the meeting, at Wal-Mart. Yes, that place. The place where money goes to die. The place with the infinite number of crying babies. The place where fat people wear skinny jeans and skinny people wear fat jeans. Fashionably? No. The place where the chance of seeing a skinny person is less than 1/4. The place where the woman in front of you smells like something you wish you couldn't name. Unfortunately, there's a name for that smell... The place where the 80's meets Dr. Dre. What results is too horrible to recall. If you've ever seen the 'People of Wal-Mart-Sexy and You Know It' video on YouTube, you know it's about 5x worse in real life.

Why am I here if I hate Wal-Mart, you ask? The same reason everyone else does. Convenience.

The box in my hands advertising 'Stress Pills-Warning: Don't eat too many. May be lethal.' looks like someone else was too stressed to buy them. In other words, the top of the box was ripped open and taped up with scotch (as in the tape, you drunk person!) I toss it back onto the shelf. It should be relabeled as 'Suicide Lethal Dosage in a Box-Eat as Many as Necessary'. I can see a lot of depressed people buying this stuff... however, I'm not one of those people. Not today, at least.

I'm just stressed...about everything.

An emo kid walks up to me. He notices that I'm staring potential suicide products.

"Dude, you must be on edge." He whistles.

"What?"

"You know, life sucks doesn't it?" He continues.

Bucket list: Have a conversation with a emo stranger who thinks you want to kill yourself in Wal-Mart. Check!

Man, this guy should rant/argue with Izaya. Who would win?

"Though that's no way to go about it..." The stranger chewed his lip.

Gross. He has five lip piercings.

"Take steroids or heroin. They're the best way to go." And he walked away.

Huh.

That's nice...not really.

I find myself staring at the shelves of probably poisonous toxins (if overdosed) again. Shrugging, I come to a decision. As the doors to Wal-Mart slide silently behind me, I Google the directions to one Shinra, underground doctor's apartment.

...

"Hmmm...you know I'm not a psychiatrist, right?" Shinra tapped his fingers lightly on his couch.

"Humor me. I need someone to be my right now." I plead with him.

"Why don't you ask Izaya to do this?" He says not unkindly (which is another way of saying kindly but it makes you think for a moment.)

"He's...not a good option for me."

Shinra raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.

"Then why don't you start by telling me everything about yourself; start at the beginning." He finally said.

I take a deep breath in.

Here goes nothing.


End file.
